Automation of Wire Routing for Aircraft Conceptual Design

The Electrical Wiring Interconnection System is a complex system that contributes significantly to aircraft weight. Novel aircraft configurations require new system layouts, and the increase in the electrification of aircraft and their subsystems adds significantly to the complexity. Despite its impact on weight, wire routing remains a mainly manual and cumbersome task that is not considered early enough. Future aircraft design exploration can benefit from improved wire routing and weight estimation in the early design phases. This paper proposes a method for automated wire routing, aiming to estimate wire length and weight with sufficient precision, thereby enabling the investigation of different component placements within a multi-disciplinary design analysis and optimization framework. The presented automated wire routing tool utilizes simplified routing models and parametric geometric information to estimate wire length, eliminating the need for detailed geometric models. The tool also incorporates key regulatory requirements, such as system segregation, separation to mitigate electromagnetic interference, and maintaining the required bend radius while avoiding obstacles and no-go areas. The path between the two components is computed using the A* (A-star) graph-based path-finding algorithm. A representative case study for the communication system and flap control system demonstrates the effectiveness of the methodology: the wire length can be estimated with an average relative error of 12% in a few seconds. This enables efficient trade-offs in component layout configurations in the conceptual design stages of aircraft development.