Advancing Sustainable Prototyping of Future Aircraft Cabin Designs through Extended Reality Technologies

Kurzfassung

In order to ensure the sustainability of commercial aviation in the future, the exploration of new energy sources and the impact on aircraft system architecture is crucial. One promising alternative propulsion system is hydrogen combustion, which has shown great potential as a means of propelling aircraft on short- and medium-haul flights. In addition to the research of hydrogen-powered aircrafts, it is also necessary to include the integration of the cabin and its systems in order to ensure not only a sustainable but also safe and comfortable way of transport in the future. The application of digital technologies has proven to be highly effective expediting product development and technology integration in the cabin. The objective is to enable the identification of new solutions at half the current cost and twice the speed, thus accelerating the journey towards climate neutrality. To avoid the need for costly alterations during the later stages of development, it is essential that engineers and other experts are involved in the design process at an early stage. The utilization of digital mock-ups facilitates collaborative work and enables a more efficient creation and integration of novel design concepts. To accurately meet the requirements in this complex domain, user-centered design methods such as Design Thinking and immersive co-creative prototyping with Extended Reality (XR) have proven effective and play a key role in user centered and digital design research activities at DLR. In addition to faster iteration and increased interaction possibilities in prototyping, the XR Co-Design method also allows for the elimination of physical mockups, saving resources and further enhancing the digital thread in the development process. This paper presents the study of a virtual reality application in which three-dimensional cabin concepts can be created and iterated in real time. This application enables stakeholders to set up, enter, and evaluate the cabin and systems of future hydrogen-powered aircraft according to their requirements and preferences. Without the need for physical mockups and the associated location constraints, stakeholders can flexibly translate their demand for the cabin of the future into reality with the click of a button, experiencing them true to scale and in real time.The findings of this study are an important contribution to the acceleration of innovative cabin designs and provide a first glimpse of the sustainable aircraft cabin of the future.