The CAMAQ project: a virtual immersion in aerospace industry practices
Initiated under the impulse of the Centre for Aerospace Manpower Activities in Quebec (CAMAQ), the CAMAQ project represents a unique Conceive - Design - Implement - Operate (CDIO) learning experience for the training of aerospace engineers. Each year since 1999, some 15 students work on the redesign of an aircraft pylon to allow the retrofit a new engine to the existing fuselage. In order to accomplish their task, they dispose of a dedicated workspace located at Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, Canada, which offers a teaching laboratory, meeting rooms, and access to digital mock-up and product lifecycle management technologies. The three industrial partners supervising the project - Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, Bombardier Aerospace, and Pratt & Whitney Canada - provide the team with a complete heritage design information package, which includes technical standards, existing CAD parts and assemblies, and certification regulations. Overall, the authors outline in the article how the CAMAQ project successfully trains innovative systems integrators to utilise standard engineering and manufacturing practices typically deployed in the aerospace industry.