Smart Material Delivery Unit for the Production Supplying Logistics of Aircraft

Abstract

Despite recent advantages, internal logistics for aircraft production is mainly performed manually. Missing or wrongfully loaded components can cause costly delays. Transforming delivery units into smart participants of a digitalized logistic chain has the potential to avoid such delays. In the scope of this work, we present a concept of a smart delivery unit for use in intralogistic processes on aircraft production sites. Its main functionality, the detection of loaded components and material, handles a high variety of identification principles that are defined by pre-existing processes. We therefore conceptualize smart sensor boards. Through a novel modularity structure, demand-driven equipment of these boards with different sensor types can be achieved. This includes AI-based, visual detection of components on delivery units. We display the versatility of our concept with a practical implementation based on low-cost sensors and demonstrate how our approach leads to demand-driven delivery units.