DIGITAL TWIN FOR RESEARCH AIRCRAFT

Abstract

The DigTwin project, launched at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2018, is the first to bundle the developments on the topic of digital twins in aviation. This project is continued by the follow-up project Digital Twins for Engine Component Aircraft Technologies (DigECAT, 2022-2025). In addition to the development of digital twins as research objects for aircraft, components and engines, an important building block is the development of digital twins as a tool for DLR research aircraft. This digital twin will be used as a service to enlarge the availability of research data within the organization. The DLR operates a large research fleet of 12 aircraft with different on-board measurement systems in the areas of aircraft systems, aerodynamics, structure and environment. The developments are modular and scalable and will be extended to other systems, e.g. UAVs, of which DLR is operating a large and diverse fleet. This paper introduces the project DigECAT and shows the motivation for implementing digital twins for research aircraft. This includes contributions to scientific and various technology roadmaps. Subsequently, the scope and complexity of data acquisition by research aircraft is discussed before addressing data processing. After that it will give a short introduction into the architecture and software features developed, before the different applications are described.