| Carlo Ferjancic (@RIO, I think) has been working on a Fellowship
project in this area.
A good first step could well be a literature search. Locally, the
library in Reading (DEC Park) can do it; the contact is (or was)
Judith Palka. Another route would be to contact the AI Information
Center in DLB (AIADM::AIIC or DTN 291-8254) to see what they have
on hand, e.g. conference proceedings, surveys, etc. They do searches
as well and can send the results over the net.
Hope this is of some use.
Mark
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| Bryan,
from my personal experience I can give you some ideas about the UK market
but they may be a little out of date. Most of the following is from personal
contacts, project proposals etc. so I cannot guarantee its current accuracy.
If you want some named contacts give me a call.
Hope this helps
Chris.
1. Airborne systems.
Royal Aircraft Establishment : Tactical decision Aid. This is a
continuation of the work done under Alvey. It's targetted at producing a real
system for the next generation of fighter/strike aircraft. Companies involved
are SMITHS Industries, British Aerospace, various divisions of GEC etc..
Ferranti, GEC, SMITHS, independently I believe these companies are looking
at AI to embed in various electromagnetic sensors (RADAR FLIR etc.). I must
admit I am not at all sure about the current status of this work.
The Civil Aviation Authority is examining AI techniques for dealing with
cockpit emergencies, both from the point of view of Pilot interfaces to alarm
systems and to diagnostic systems.
SMITHS is using Neural nets for speech recognition in fighter aircraft and
helicopters. They are also developing along with (I believe) Hunting Engineering
an on-board diagnostic system for aero engines, again based on Neural nets.
2. Ground diagnostics.
BAe have evaluated AI techniques for use on the HAWK ground test rig. Again
I do not know what came of this.
Westland and Solatron (Schlumberger) cooperated on an Alvey project to examine
automated test and diagnosis of helicopter transmissions.
3. CAD/CAM
I know of at least one application of AI to aerospace CAD/CAM, the one
I worked on. It designs the helical springs for undercarriage assemblies. It was
originally targetted at BOEING, but I have no idea whether it flew or not.
4. Simulation.
Redifusion simulation have worked on the application of AI to simulations
and pilot training. I assume this work is continuing. Also BAe Wharton.
5. General.
NASA have used AI for the mssion scheduling and navigation of space shuttle
flights. Macdonald-Douglas have been working on the pilot's associate with DARPA
(no idea whether this is still going, try Pat Roach). A big application for AI
is going to be the CALS initiative (requirement for all aerospace contracts to be
delivred with on-line design and maintenance documentation), but I don't know
who will be involved in that.
Further info.
For the UK try following up Alvey, a lot of Aerospace companies used Alvey
to try out AI. Also you should try speaking to RSRE or RAE for public info.
DARPA also keep track of such projects in the states, I believe there are some
publications around this area from DARPA and DOD (again see Pat Roach).
Also you should consider the rest of Europe, in particular France. Companies
such as Aerospatiale and Matra are certainly using AI. A contact for this might
be Henri Mercier (European AI-sig DEC rep.) at the Evry office. Also Gerard Milo
who is the ESA account consultant may be able to help. George Mcgregor has a
list of DEC account consultants who deal with aerospace customers, they may be
able to help.
Carlo Tarantola has just completed a project with an Italian aerospace company
MARS (specialises in microgravity experiments on spacecraft) and he should have a
good view of current European efforts.
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