In the context of the CompSTLar project, a physical and digital research platform dedicated to the whole supply chain for advanced composite aerostructures is in development phase. The main objective of this platform is the integration of the different systems and components required for the proper implementation of the connectivity and interoperability among the different project partners. The physical and digital research platform will allow the full management of the circular manufacturing of advanced composite aerostructures. Through the platform, it will be possible to connect different kinds of sensors to different applications and services. Furthermore, a digital pipeline will be put in place in the digital research platform to acquire and manage heterogeneous data generated by different sources, such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors and industrial systems already installed in the different project stakeholders. At the end of the day, the robustness and the reliability of the manufacturing processes will be improved thanks to the data quality and traceability brought by the physical and digital research platform.
To achieve this objective, the development, the implementation and the tests of the envisioned CompSTLar physical and digital research platform is relying on the resources brought by the Scientific Large-scale Infrastructure for Computing/Communication Experimental Studies Research Infrastructure (SLICES-RI). But what is exactly SLICES-RI? This is a European research infrastructure dedicated to large-scale and experimental research in the context of digital sciences allowing the academic and industrial researchers to develop and test new digital technologies, products and services. Different areas of research are available on SLICES-RI, notably the network and communication protocols, the radio and wireless technologies, cloud and edge computing, distributed systems and finally, data collection and management.
SLICES-RI will provide the tools and the playground to develop and test the different software components needed to the implementation of the CompSTLar physical and digital research platform. It will also permit the developers and researchers to test and validate the interoperability expected in the CompSTLar research platform. Indeed, different sorts of Industrial IoT sensors will be connected to the platform and a dedicated pipeline will be organised to collect data from the heterogeneous sensors.
Furthermore, different communication protocols dedicated to the world of the industry are intended to be used within the CompSTLar physical and digital research platform, such as MQTT or OPC-UA. The platform will permit to efficiently use Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to process the heterogeneous data collected from the different sensors deployed among the CompSTLar project partners in an interoperable way.