Initiated under the impulse of the Centre for Aerospace Manpower Activities in Quebec (CAMAQ), the Virtual Environment (VE) option represents a unique Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) learning experience for the training of aerospace engineers. This specialization involves coursework such as “Integration of Design and Manufacturing” and “Project Management in Aerospace Engineering”, tied together with a hands-on project and a coherent learning strategy.
Each year since 1999, some fifteen students from the VE option participate in a large scale aerospace design effort, named the “CAMAQ project”. Under the guidance of experienced engineers from Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, Bombardier Aerospace, and Pratt & Whitney Canada, the team has to redesign a pylon to retrofit a Pratt & Whitney Canada engine to a Bombardier Aerospace aircraft fuselage. To accomplish their task, they dispose of a dedicated workspace – the CAMAQ laboratory – located at the École Polytechnique (Montreal), which offers a teaching laboratory, meeting rooms, and access to Digital Mock-Up and Product Lifecycle Management technologies. To reflect current practices in the aerospace industry, the information provided by the industrial partners includes: the necessary technical standards from both the airframe and engine partners, the existing CAD parts and assemblies which require modifications for the new engine retrofit, and the certification regulations to complete the proposals for qualification and test programs.
This paper outlines how the CAMAQ project successfully trains systems integrators to use standard engineering and manufacturing practices typically deployed in the aerospace industry. The accomplishments of the teams who have participated over the years serve to illustrate the level of knowledge that can be gained by implementing such an ambitious training program. The reported comments made by the aerospace engineers strengthen the position of this high profile educational initiative as a major asset for the new CDIO curriculum implemented at École Polytechnique.
2nd International CDIO Conference, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, 13 – 14 June 2006