Identifying a pathway for condition of assembly validation

• Main Author: Szarski, Martin
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 03.12.2019
• Subjects: AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COSMONAUTICS; COUNTING; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING ORREPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLYADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFTCOMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; TRANSPORTING

A method and apparatus for establishing a pathway for performing an automated validation of a condition of assembly. A sensor system coupled to an automated guided vehicle is moved into test positions relative to the structure. Image data is generated at each test position, using the sensor system, to build test images. Each test image is registered to a computer model of the structure to form registered images that are added to a collection of registered images. An optimal set of positions that will allow an entirety of an area of interest to be captured using a fewest number of registered images from the collection of registered images is determined. A pathway is generated for moving the automated guided vehicle to each optimal position in a least amount of time. A computer file identifying the pathway is generated for use in performing the automated validation of the condition of assembly.