DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL TWIN FOR AVIATION RESEARCH

Abstract

The application of digital twins is increasing in several fields. Mirroring the current state of the asset and making predictions of the future state are the main purposes of digital twins. Inside the German Aerospace Center (DLR), an internal project is set up to find methods, technologies and processes for digital twins. Several institutes are contributing to the project, including institutes in the IT domain like the Institute of Software Methods for Product Virtualization or the Institute for Software Technology on one side, and the aviation engineering domain on the other side, e.g. the Institute of Flight Systems, the Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems and the Institute of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul. In order to demonstrate the capabilities and identify new development opportunities of digital twins, three different use cases are defined. These use cases include the virtual product house, the virtual engine and the research aircraft. For the research aircraft use case, the digital twin can be seen as a research tool within the organization. The research questions of the project are addressing several information technology related issues like data formats, data sizes, data storage concepts, provenance, and security. Additionally, the project addresses the definitions of the digital twin, the digital thread, and the application layer as well as a common digital twin vision. The next steps in the project are the implementation and demonstration of first prototypes for the individual use cases. This paper gives an overview over the project results and the developments for digital twins. The aim is to digitally map aircraft and their components with all their characteristics and relevant data.