Multimedia environment in complex aerospace engineering

Multimedia environment refers to the man machine interface between industrial operators and a product lifecycle system. This interface is used to design and operate engineering models during product development and to monitor ground operators who apply instruction sheets. The paper is focused on complex products, where digital mock-up is a key component of the engineering model. It gives an overview of present practices and applied research about digital mock-up. Haptic and large display devices are examined as potential improvement to operate with digital mock-up. It concludes with the necessity to move from a digital mock-up centered vision toward an engineering model centered vision to take full advantage of multimedia environments.