A Prototype System for Evaluating Civil Airplane's Airport Compatibility based on Virtual Reality

Abstract

Using advanced simulation techniques in evaluating civil airplane’s airport compatibility can make the analysis procedure visualized and efficiently integrating human factors. This paper presents a virtual reality based paradigm for evaluating civil airplane’s airport compatibility. The research focuses on two points of civil airplane’s airport compatibility’s simulation: 1) Simulation and evaluation of ground handling process. 2) Simulation of human factors involved in ground handling. To achieve the objectives above, a prototype software system, called Airport Compatibility Rapid Analysis System (ACRAS), has been developed. Design and development aspects of ACRAS are discussed in this paper and a test case is presented to demonstrate the usability and effectiveness of the paradigm. IRCRAFT design is an information intensive engineering process which is full of evaluation and decisionmaking 1 . Conceptual design and preliminary design phases consume relatively less time and costs compared to the entire design process, but a lot of important decisions will be made during these two periods. It is estimated that as much as 80% of the life cycle costs of an aircraft is decided in the conceptual design and preliminary design phase 2 . A lot factors should be considered in early stage. For a civil airplane, airport compatibility is one of the most important design factors in design process which must be considered in early design stage. If an airplane has good airport compatibility, it means most airports can be compatible with the airplane smoothly without any special transformation. It can reduce the costs and improve the airplane’s economy. Otherwise, it means more costs, more risks and greater possibility of failure. In other words, the airport compatibility of an airplane has a direct impact on its market competitiveness. Civil airplane’s airport compatibility contains many aspects 3