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

Abstract

Extended Reality (XR) is an emerging technology and potential tool to create early design concept sketches for remote collaborative design, review and evaluation. In the field of air travel design, researchers, designers and engineers have been studying the use of XR (e.g., VirtualReality and Augmented Reality) to support design workflows and comparing this new technique to traditional industrial design methods. This research explores how designers can implement XR techniques in developing early concepts for air cabin design within the Technology Readiness Level framework. The research consists of 2 phases: (1) comparing virtual reality sketching to traditional sketching methods from the researcher's first-hand experience; and (2) the distribution of traditional 2D versus 3D VR developed sketches for designers and the public to review the designs and evaluate their experience with these 2 mediums. The finding from the exploration identifies the advantages of using XR techniques for design and the limitation of learning and of sharing 3D sketches for publishing and sharing with the public. Chapter 1 IntroductionExtended reality applications have become more accessible as a tool for design and development in innovation sectors. Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term encompassing virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies [1,2,3,4]. In the field of industrial design, the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) as tools to aid in the development phases of design workflows has become a popular trend [2,4,5,6]. A keyword search in the Engineering Village database for "Virtual Reality and Industrial Design" between 1993 and 2011 yielded 1,289 journal articles. In contrast, a search for "Augmented Reality and Industrial Design" during the same time period resulted in 119 articles. A more recent search conducted between the years 2012 to 2021 for the same keywords resulted in 4,981 articles for VR and 592 for AR articles, an approximately fivefold increase in activity.Additionally, a search that included "Virtual Simulation Testing and Industrial Design" resulted in 1,150 from 1993 to 2011, whereas from 2012 to 2021, keyword results doubled to 2,427 articles. 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