Application of VR technology in the aircraft cabin design process

Abstract

This paper addresses issues currently present in the aircraft cabin design process. It focuses on making the design process more time and cost efficient, while altogether involving the end-users (passengers and cabin crew) in the development process in its earliest stages. By understanding the underlying issues and reasons the cabin is developed according to the current approach, new methods are established and adapted to suit the needs of such a complex process. In this paper, the preposition is made that Virtual Reality is the key technology for achieving the following goals: shortening the initial cabin design process (from sketch to concept design) and including the end-users and their wishes and ideas into the ideation phase. Through cooperation with an external design agency, a Virtual Reality tool is implemented and tested to ensure the theory behind the established design methodology can also be put into practice.

Relationship between electroencephalographic data and comfort perception captured in a Virtual Reality design environment of an aircraft cabin

“…Indeed, through navigation around the environment, our visual system can learn about our surroundings 12 . For all these reasons Virtual Reality is an enabling technology for the involvement of end users since the early design phases of the product development process 13 – 16 .…”

Evaluating XR Techniques in Air Travel Design for the Early Stages of the Technology Readiness Level.

“…The workflow in air travel design can be a long and costly process [4,8,10,13]. The concept development and user testing phases involved in designing a new product for an aircraft cabin can take several months or years [8,13].…”

“…Their contributions to the project include sharing their existing design workflow so that an XR method can be developed and evaluated for integration into air travel design. Currently, the DLR has researched the application of XR in the early stages of the design process, including collaborative brainstorming and design research [10]. Following the Double Diamond design model (Figure 5), the contribution of this research will continue from where the DLR left off in their research to examine other aspects of implementing XR in the design process [9].…”

“…XR technologies are being more widely explored to aid in design processesincluding simulating experiences for prototyping, testing, and training-possibly because the digital means can allow the project to be more cost-effective compared to traditional analog methods [2,4,7,8,9]. Design and engineering for air travel can be a particularly lengthy and expensive process, which can interfere with rapid innovation [4,8,10,11]. Early steps in aerospace design, such as research and brainstorming, have largely employed traditional methods, including sketching concepts, prototyping, and eliciting user feedback on early development…”

“…In recent years, XR tools have been adopted to augment the design process and help drive innovative solutions such as using VR for simulated architecture design [3,9]. However, XR development has primarily focused on simulating experiences, and comparatively fewer resources are available to support the implementation of XR in the early phases of the design workflow [4,10].…”