Computing technology in aircraft design - Essay Example

It also discuss the advantages such as reduced production cost, improved time management, advanced method of quality control system, product consistency, in time to market and improved customer satisfaction. Aircraft design is a useful field that provides itself to objective design methods and, especially, optimization skill. Nearly all major aerospace design institutes employ computer-based optimization tools, mainly at the early design phase. Usually, the overall objective task used is total life-cycle cost (LCC) of the product.

In the early design stage computer-based optimization technique allow a very broad search of the design space. Later, due to the current limits of optimization tools, searching are conducted using manual or ‘computer assisted’ process and, as a result, the search becomes noticeably more expensive and time consuming (Pugh 1996). The search space is narrowed down to a small number of design concepts that are explored in greater depth. At each stage of this process, the minimization of LCC remains the overall target (Southampton e-Science Wiki, 2006).

The Boeing Commercial Airplane Company (BCAC) commenced testing with computerized transmission of aircraft design data between engineering groups. It is characteristic for several engineering groups, positioned at different company plants throughout the country, to work on an aircraft drawing as it develops from initial shapes to a final, dimensioned, explained, part. Traditionally, these drawings had always been prepared manually using drafting tables and conveyed between plants via company inter-office mail.

By the introduction of early computerized drawing techniques and the accessibility of quality Interactive Computer Graphic (ICG) systems BCAC management decided to replace, both the manual drafting and inter-office mailing of aircraft design drawings.