Case Study
POLYAERO

Electrifying an Aircraft
Using 3D Scanning and Augmented Reality

The aeronautics industry is without question a dynamic sector of activity where progress takes place at breakneck pace and where the players in the field have to deal with remarkable technological advances that follow each other at increasingly shorter intervals. This industry would therefore very likely find itself lagging behind considerably without the support of continually updated training programs and lecturers who keep a close eye on market developments.
And this is exactly what happens at the POLYAÉRO® Hautes-Alpes Center of Excellence, which is managed by FORMASUP MÉDITERRANÉE and where a research laboratory is used to ensure that new technologies and the latest aeronautical practices are included in the learners’ educational and technological pathway.

Harnessing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) tools, this immersive laboratory makes it possible for students to examine and handle aeronautical parts and even entire aircraft interactively. However, making digital twins and 3D models available in VR requires reliable scan data to be collected using devices of proven metrological quality, and then post-processed in an intuitive and user-friendly software ecosystem.

In the wake of these numerous improvements, POLYAÉRO® Center of Excellence thus found itself in need of reliable means for digitizing parts and models that could be moving or static, large or small. 

One of the aircraft that was scanned for 3D imaging at POLYAÉRO® is a PC-6 Porter, a paratrooper transport aircraft. With a length of eleven meters and a wingspan of sixteen meters, this aircraft from Swiss aircraft manufacturer PILATUS Aircraft presented specific challenges that this scanner was able to handle thanks to its shape, size and mobility.

The industrial project carried out by the students required studying the conversion of a thermal-powered aircraft into an electric aircraft. This involved creating a digital twin of the entire PC-6 Porter.

It is important to note that before POLYAÉRO® acquired Creaform’s solutions, scanning was done using a measuring arm equipped with a scanner head, which made data acquisition more complex. In fact, unlike the various CREAFORM scanners, this solution was not suitable to meet their need for flexibility.