Digitalisation in the Aerospace Industry (Coursera)

What You Will Learn

- You will comprehend the ways in which industry and research interact.

- You will recognise the special requirements resulting from digitalisation in production and industrial manufacturing.

- At the end of this course you will be familiar with the most relevant digital applications in aerospace research.

- You will be able to discuss examples of the utilisation of these technologies.

Course 1 of 3 in the Digitalisation in Aeronautics and Space Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Digitalisation and the Future of the Aerospace Industry

This course unit is a brief introduction to the history of aerospace, discussing the digital evolution of this research area from the earliest days up to the present.

Digitalisation in Production

The online course unit "Digitalisation in Production" provides an initial insight into how digitalisation influences production. It provides an overview of what digitalisation is before discussing four aspects of digitalisation and their concrete impact on production technology. In addition to cyber-physical systems (CPS) and digital twins, assistance systems and robotics in production are examined in greater detail. For all modules, examples are given of how use of these technologies is already changing or will change production processes, especially in the field of aerospace.

WEEK 2

Human Factors 4.0: Requirements and challenges for humans, teams and organizations

Workload is the amount of work an individual has to perform. Actual amount of work vs the individual’s perception of workload has to be considered. Assessment of operator workload has a vital impact on the design of man-machine systems. Occupational or work-related stress is the response humans may experience when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and challenge their ability to cope, potentially resulting in inefficiencies, inadequate man-machine cooperation and human error. Avoiding workload imbalance and occupational stress increases efficiency, reliability and the safety of complex systems, supporting the attainment of mission objectives in the process. The ways in which digitised companies operate will be changing radically. The company of the future will use digital means to manage its central functions such as its organisational structure and value creation. Future leaders will need to understand not only their “generation smartphone plus”-employees, but will also have to accept non-human factors such as AI algorithms and robots as part of a team. In such a radically changed environment with teams incorporating human and artificial intelligence, general mental models have to be developed for the workings of an organization, the products of the future and the requirements of the market and customers.

WEEK 3

Managing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul for Civil Aircraft

In this course unit, Professor Mendler presents on the individual steps in the approval process for new aircraft under European and international requirements as well as on relevant maintenance processes and the impact of digitalisation in this area.