Following several high-profile aeronautical production quality lapses in recent years, including a door falling off mid-flight and tooling left inside aircraft, the last thing any plane manufacturer wants is a missing bolt or any oversight that slips through manual checks.
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Enter the futuristic assembly line of C919, China’s first domestically developed large passenger jet.
This network integrates 5G wireless connectivity with time-sensitive networking to create a hybrid communication backbone that connects every sensor, robot, tool and worker across the final assembly line, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Automatica Sinica in August.
Unlike conventional factory networks that separate data collection, communication and control, the Chinese system unifies them into a single, intelligent loop – a concept known as sensing-transmission-control integration.