{"id":73,"date":"2023-12-12T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/?p=73"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:38:10","slug":"2023-retrospective-the-precision-revolution-in-automated-fiber-placement-afp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/?p=73","title":{"rendered":"2023 Retrospective: The Precision Revolution in Automated Fiber Placement (AFP)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-top\" style=\"grid-template-columns:31% auto\"><figure  class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"857\" height=\"916\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Iryna-img2.png\" class=\"wp-image-74 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Iryna-img2.png 857w, https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Iryna-img2-281x300.png 281w, https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Iryna-img2-768x821.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 857px) 100vw, 857px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2023, the aerospace sector reached a critical maturity level regarding <strong>Automated Fiber Placement (AFP)<\/strong>. While the hardware had existed for decades, the integration of <strong>Real-Time Digital Inspection<\/strong> and AI-driven defect recognition transformed it into a modern &#8220;best practice.&#8221; This shift moved the industry from time-consuming manual inspections to &#8220;inline&#8221; quality control, where machine-learning algorithms identify gaps, overlaps, or twists as they occur. For my research, this era is a vital reference point; it represents the moment when high-rate production finally gained the &#8220;digital eyes&#8221; necessary to ensure structural integrity without sacrificing speed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was a really good post on the Bristol Composites Institute blog (Part of the University of Bristol).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-bristol-composites-institute-blog wp-block-embed-bristol-composites-institute-blog\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"9JAeB2RQYC\"><a href=\"https:\/\/composites.blogs.bristol.ac.uk\/2023\/11\/30\/real-time-quality-control-in-automated-fibre-placement-using-artificial-intelligence\/\">Real-time Quality Control in Automated Fibre Placement using Artificial Intelligence\u00a0<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Real-time Quality Control in Automated Fibre Placement using Artificial Intelligence\u00a0&#8221; &#8212; Bristol Composites Institute Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/composites.blogs.bristol.ac.uk\/2023\/11\/30\/real-time-quality-control-in-automated-fibre-placement-using-artificial-intelligence\/embed\/#?secret=UvSiSMN4hW#?secret=9JAeB2RQYC\" data-secret=\"9JAeB2RQYC\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am fascinated by the current trend in using AI in new and exciting ways in composites construction.  It seems that AI is slowly revolutionizing many aspects of the aviation industry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2023, the aerospace sector reached a critical maturity level regarding Automated Fiber Placement (AFP). While the hardware had existed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationcompositesresearch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}