June 15, 2001This report concentrates on the way BAE SYSTEMS (formally British Aerospace after its recent acquisition of GEC Marconi) deals with the inherently long lead times that occur between contract with customer to the actual commercial production and provision of the product/solution.
This report will describe the overall operational situation faced by BAE SYSTEMS, and then concentrate on the more challenging military market. A brief description of a typical classic aircraft design cycle will be provided, followed by a discussion as to why this is unsuitable for most current and future projects due to the unique situation that defence systems companies face. Finally, an appraisal on current practices and a look into the future concludes the report.
February 24, 2001Simulation is an established technique used in the man-machine systems area for training, evaluation of performance and research. The principal task of flight simulation is the creation of a dynamic representation of an aircraft’s behaviour while allowing one or more human operators to interact with the simulation.
Personal experience within the simulation industry gave a small insight into what is a largely closed and highly specialised industry where several technical disciplines are combined to form a highly accurate representation of flight.
Such disciplines include computer graphics, hardware and software engineering, man-machine systems and mathematical systems modelling. One can thus conclude that the true art of simulation is the successful integration of very specific areas to form an accurate representation of an aircraft, and it is hoped that the broad technical spectrum that simulation encapsulates is reflected in this text.
