Digital twin modeling method based on biomimicry for machining aerospace components

High-performance aerospace component manufacturing requires stringent in-process geometrical and performance-based quality control. Real-time observation, understanding and control of machining processes are integral to optimizing the machining strategies of aerospace component manufacturing. Digital Twin can be used to model, monitor and control the machining process by fusing multi-dimensional in-context machining process data, such as changes in geometry, material properties and machining parameters. However, there is a lack of systematic and efficient Digital Twin modeling method that can adaptively develop high-fidelity multi-scale and multi-dimensional Digital Twins of machining processes. Aiming at addressing this challenge, we proposed a Digital Twin modeling method based on biomimicry principles that can adaptively construct a multi-physics digital twin of the machining process. With this approach, we developed multiple Digital Twin sub-models, e.g., geometry model, behavior model and process model. These Digital Twin sub-models can interact with each other and compose an integrated true representation of the physical machining process. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed biomimicry-based Digital Twin modeling method, we tested the method in monitoring and controlling the machining process of an air rudder.     

Accurate positioning of a drilling and riveting cell for aircraft assembly

Modern aircraft assembly demands assembly cells or machines with higher machining efficiency and accuracy. Thus, a dual-machine drilling and riveting cell is developed in this paper. We firstly discuss its physical design, as well as the automatic drilling and riveting process. With the automatic drilling and riveting cell, drilling and riveting production line of aircraft panels can be expected. The frame chain of the drilling and riveting cell is constructed to link the assembly cell to its task space, which is the kinematics base. System calibrations, including task space calibration, the sensor calibration of an orientation alignment unit, the floating calibration of the implicit hand-eye relationship, are explored. For high positioning accuracy, a multi-sensor servoing method is proposed for cell positioning. An orientation-based laser servoing strategy, which uses the feedback of the orientation errors measured by laser displacement sensors, is used to align drilling direction and camera shooting direction. Besides, A single-camera-based visual servoing is applied to align the tool center point (TCP) to reference holes, to obtain their coordinates for drilling position modification. Experiments of multi-sensor servoing for cell positioning are performed on an automatic drilling and riveting machine developed for the panel assembly of an aircraft in China. With the cell positioning method, the automatic drilling and riveting cell can approximately achieve an accuracy of 0.05 mm, which can adequately fulfill the requirement for the assembly of the aircraft.     

A state-of-the-art survey on Augmented Reality-assisted Digital Twin for futuristic human-centric industry transformation

The combination of Augmented Reality (AR) and Digital Twin (DT) has begun to show its potential nowadays, leading to a growing research interest in both academia and industry. Especially under the current human-centric trend, AR embraces the potential to integrate operators into the new generation of Human Cyber–Physical System (HCPS), in which DT is a pillar component. Some review articles have focused on this topic and discussed the benefits of combining AR and DT, but all of them are limited to a specific domain. To fill the gap, this research conducts a state-of-the-art survey (till 17-July-2022) from the AR-assisted DT perspective across different sectors of the industrial field, covering a total of 118 selected publications. Firstly, application scenarios and functions of AR-assisted DT are summarized by following the engineering lifecycle, among which production process, service design, and Human–Machine Interaction (HMI) are hot topics. Then, improvements specifically brought by AR are analyzed according to three dimensions, namely virtual twin, hybrid twin, and cognitive twin, respectively. Finally, challenges and future perspectives of AR-assisted DT for futuristic human-centric industry transformation are proposed, including promoting product design, robotic-related works, cyber–physical interaction, and human ergonomics.     

An improved differential evolution algorithm for vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickups and deliveries and time windows

The vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickups and deliveries and time windows (VRP-SPDTW) is the problem of optimally integrating forward (good distribution) and reverse logistics (returning materials) for cost saving and environmental protection. We constructed a general mixed integer programming model of VRP-SPDTW. The model contained some classical vehicle routing problems as special cases. We proposed an improved differential evolution algorithm (IDE) for solving this problem. In the algorithm, we firstly adopted the novel decimal coding to construct an initial population, then used some improved differential evolution operators unlike the existing algorithm, and in mutation operation, we used an integer order criterion based on natural number coding method. We introduced a penalty technical to publish the infeasible solution. In addition, in the crossover operation, we designed a self-adapting crossover probability that varied with iteration. We did some numerical experiments, and the results showed that the proposed method is effective for solving VRP-SPDTW.     

基于xMAS模型的SpaceWire信誉逻辑的形式化验证

空间总线(SpaceWire)协议是应用于航空航天领域的高速通信总线协议, 保证其可靠性至关重要。但是由于通信系统具有队列量、分布控制和并发性等特点,传统仿真模拟的验证方法存在不完备性的问题,采用模型检测方法对高层次属性进行验证时,通常会出现状态爆炸的问题。基于xMAS模型对SpaceWire通信系统中的信誉逻辑进行形式化建模、验证,xMAS模型既保留了底层的结构信息,又可以验证高层次的属性。对通信系统中信誉逻辑进行抽象进而建立了xMAS模型,提取了可发送性、可接收性和数据一致性等3个关键属性,运用定理证明工具ACL2对关键属性的正确性进行了自动验证。该方法为验证指导下的系统设计提供了有效的参考。     

Dual-quaternion based fault-tolerant control for spacecraft formation flying with finite-time convergence

Study results of developing control system for spacecraft formation proximity operations between a target and a chaser are presented. In particular, a coupled model using dual quaternion is employed to describe the proximity problem of spacecraft formation, and a nonlinear adaptive fault-tolerant feedback control law is developed to enable the chaser spacecraft to track the position and attitude of the target even though its actuator occurs fault. Multiple-task capability of the proposed control system is further demonstrated in the presence of disturbances and parametric uncertainties as well. In addition, the practical finite-time stability feature of the closed-loop system is guaranteed theoretically under the designed control law. Numerical simulation of the proposed method is presented to demonstrate the advantages with respect to interference suppression, fast tracking, fault tolerant and practical finite-time stability.     

Connectivity preservation for multi-agent rendezvous with link failure

This paper proposes a new connectivity-preserving protocol in terms of rectangle-like regions. The protocol consists of a set of distributed control rules; their working together guarantees the network connectivity as well as rendezvous of a discrete-time multi-agent system. It is assumed that all agents share a common minimum sensing radius, but the information exchange may suffer from link failure and recovery. Consequently, the interaction topology is in fact directed and time-varying. By rigorous mathematical arguments, we show the effectiveness and robustness of the protocol in the presence of alignment errors in local coordinate orientations of agents and measurement errors in relative positions of neighbors. We also present simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.