Systematic selection and industrial evaluation of 3D measurement methods for positional tolerance compensation in final assembly lines

This paper presents a weighted-sum evaluation of non-invasive 3D measurement methods for positional tolerance compensation in aircraft cabin final assembly. The motivation is to replace invasive and time-intensive point-based measurements that slow takt time and impede automation while tight positional tolerances must be met. Normalized criteria (spatial resolution, trueness, precision, environmental robustness, throughput, operating envelope, and lifecycle cost) are scored using a shared processing pipeline to ensure fair comparison. The Airbus crown module serves as the use case, prioritizing reliable detection of 12-24 mm bores at 1.0-1.5 m working distance under realistic interior conditions and takt constraints. Structured light, LiDAR, and stereo vision are assessed under ISO 5725 accuracy concepts, with structured light cameras attaining the highest overall utility (0.85) over LiDAR (0.76) and stereo vision (0.74) due to finer spatial resolution and strong trueness and precision at meter scale. Sensitivity analysis confirms ranking stability across broad weight variations.

Subjects

3D Measurement

Assembly Assistance Systems

Productdesign

Tolerances

Utility Analysis

DDC Class

629.13: Aviation Engineering

Lizenz

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publication version

publishedVersion

Name

1-s2.0-S2212827126008188-main.pdf

Type

Main Article

Size

550.38 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Options

Systematic selection and industrial evaluation of 3D measurement methods for positional tolerance compensation in final assembly lines