Building virtual integrated aircraft
A distinctive approach to break development cost curve and to enhance aircraft program delivery efficiency
Environmental and regulatory constraints as well as fierce international competition are putting the aerospace industry under high pressure. Aerospace companies must take actions today to reduce fuel consumption, noise, CO2, and NOx emissions over the aircraft mission. They constantly interface new technologies to offer better passenger comfort, to improve safety and to contain the development costs. The increasing complexity of the design of modern aircraft calls for advanced methods to assess systems interactions as early as possible in the design cycle and for a flexible platform for collaborative work within organizations. Virtual integrated aircraft (VIA) is a set of methods that enables the virtual integration of complex systems since the early stages of the aircraft design process. It combines model-based systems engineering (MBSE), modeling and simulations, verification and validation procedures, and a thorough comprehension of aircraft and manufacturer organizational breakdown structures. To enhance aircraft program delivery efficiency, Siemens PLM Software champions VIA distinctive approach and offers the LMS Imagine.LabTM software suite. The multi-domain system simulation platform has proven its efficiency at multiple major aerospace companies throughout the world. For instance, Russian aircraft manufacturer IRKUT Corporation reduced the time of development of their most complex models by a factor of five. Click here to read more on this success story. LMS Imagine.Lab AmesimTM software enables modeling, simulation and analysis of multi-domain systems. The adaptation of the level of refinement of each model supports faster answers to precise questions from high-level representations of aircraft systems to sub-model levels. It improves system engineers’ efficiency through the use of validated components without need for writing code, fast simulation and extensive post-processing capabilities. LMS Imagine.LabTM Sysdm software facilitates collaborative engineering in the current extended-enterprise context. It simplifies the organization of models and data originating from LMS Amesim or other simulation tools. Therefore, LMS Sysdm becomes a cornerstone for traceability and knowledge capitalization. Finally, our portfolio includes the LMS Imagine.LabTM System Synthesis software, which enables synthesizing and tradeoffs of architectures made of heterogeneous system models. It also allows the deployment of pre-defined multi-criteria analysis to engineers who are not experts in modeling and simulations techniques. In the context of an accelerated development cycle, divided by two over the past 20 years, it is critical to ensure design quality before physical test phases. It avoids costly program delays and grants a competitive edge on international markets. With LMS Imagine.Lab, Siemens PLM Software provides an exhaustive and truly integrated set of powerful tools to support aircraft systems design and therefore empowers aerospace companies to be a frontrunner in the global innovation race.