Study of a transferring system for measurements in aircraft assembly

Abstract

PurposeAircraft assembly is the crucial part of aircraft manufacturing, and to meet the high-precision and high-efficiency requirements, cooperative measurement consisting of multiple measurement instruments and automatic assisted devices is being adopted. To achieve the complete data of all assembly features, measurement devices need to be placed at different positions, and the flexible and efficient transfer relies on Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and robots in the large-size space and close range. This paper aims to improve the automatic station transfer in accuracy and flexibility.Design/methodology/approachA transferring system with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and markers is established. The map coupling for navigation is optimized. Markers are distributed according to the accumulated uncertainties. The path planning method applied to the collaborative measurement is proposed for better accuracy. The motion planning method is optimized for better positioning accuracy.FindingsA transferring system is constructed and the system is verified in the laboratory. Experimental results show that the proposed system effectively improves positioning accuracy and efficiency, which improves the station transfer for the cooperative measurement.Originality/valueA Transferring system for collaborative measurement is proposed. The optimized navigation method extends the application of visual markers. With this system, AGV is capable of the cooperative measurement of large aircraft structural parts.