Rails & Aerospace: Engineering for Extreme Safety Standards
The development of on-board electrical systems in aerospace and rail transport requires the integration of widely branched wiring into restricted installation spaces, while adhering to strict EMC, vibration, and fire protection requirements. The design focuses on optimizing power-to-weight ratio and maintenance accessibility for thousands of signals. Early digital validation of physical parameters is mandatory to eliminate iterative redesigns in late project phases.
Digital Harness Engineering
In modern aircraft fuselages and engines, as well as in the underfloor systems of high-speed trains, installation space is the most valuable asset. The challenge for engineers lies in the extreme packing density of wiring harnesses. Here, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and the strict physical separation of redundant systems (segregation) must be digitally validated in the early design phase. Manual inspections are simply no longer process-reliable given the number of connectors and signal paths.
A digital workflow enables automated complex bend radius analyses and collision checks to eliminate costly redesigns in late project phases.
Digital Traceability Throughout the Entire Lifecycle
Rail vehicle manufacturers face the task of managing vast amounts of data in an audit-proof manner for decades. Standards such as EN 45545 (fire protection) or specific railway standards demand seamless traceability of every component. For projects often involving hundreds of car bodies and individual customer configurations, creating manufacturing documents and bills of material (BOM) without automation becomes a bottleneck.
The automated derivation of scaled harness board layouts from the 3D model ensures that the physical installation precisely matches the certified design and eliminates assembly errors on the formboard.
From Digital Mock-up Directly to Production
In the aerospace industry, optimizing wire lengths is a direct lever for weight reduction and thus for reducing the CO2 footprint. Every superfluous piece of cable, while considering safety-relevant redundancy, adds up to significant additional loads in large commercial aircraft.
Through precise Digital Mock-up (DMU) and the automated calculation of exact wire lengths, considering connector types and crimp allowances, engineers can reduce the weight of the on-board electrical system to a minimum without compromising functional safety. This requires a tool chain that accurately interprets physical cable parameters and translates them into the manufacturing world.
Single Source of Truth with smartCable
Given the decades-long operational life of aircraft and trains, documentation is the backbone of maintenance. Modifications and modernization programs require immediate access to the validated current state of the on-board electrical system. Forward-thinking companies address this challenge by consistently focusing on the Single Source of Truth (SSoT).
The goal is a complete digital twin that maps the entire lifecycle: from the initial logical system architecture to highly precise 3D engineering, all the way to the final NC interface and maintenance documentation. Our deeply integrated data chain ensures that every design change flows immediately and flawlessly into production and service – for maximum safety in the air and on the rails.
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