ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-10678
Open Date: 01/07/2021 17:56 CEST
Closing Date: 29/10/2021 13:00 CEST

The objective of the activity is to increase the level of autonomy in decision making processes for quality assurance in telecommunication spacecraft assembly, integration and test (AIT). Targeted Improvements:- Enabling complex model processing by including artificial intelligence in augmented reality systems;- Minimising the presence of a product assurance operator during AIT due to an intensive use of image recognition. Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in augmented reality systems can reduce significantly the AIT effort. The product assurance/ quality assurance function could be covered by AI interacting with backstage experts. The AIT sequence could then be coordinated in real time to minimise the duration of the AIT campaign. Also, previous work has shown that only models with limited complexity can be efficiently processed with augmented reality systems by human operators. The use of AI will overcome these limitations and very complex models in augmented reality systems can then be processed. In this activity, an AI-based image feature recognition system shall be developed to interpret the data retrieved by a virtual reality set to validate assembly operations (mounting, dismounting, repairs, etc.). This AI module will shall be introduced into the connected to an augmented realitysystem.AI accelerators or other suitable hardware will be selected from existing commercial off-the-shelf products. The system will be capable of processing portions of the spacecraft full computer aided design (CAD) model. The system shall validate autonomously the correct execution of a procedure by comparing the CAD model with the physical status of the spacecraft after assembly. The effectiveness of the system will be quantified and demonstrated in a realistic environment with representative AIT procedures.

Directorate: Directorate Telecom Integrated Applica
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Contracts Officer: Claudia Ria Piesche
Initiating Service: TIA-TTS
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0534-01G – CC-AT 4.0.1
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CA+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 8-D-I-Advanced AIT Methods
Products Keywords: 2-M-2-b-Other