About TIAT
Thakur Institute of Aviation and Technology or TIAT is a top-tier aviation institute established in March 2006, primarily to cater to the need of students desirous of pursuing the aviation industry. It provides the best infrastructure facilities matched by equally competent teaching faculty & the right academic ambiance to make learning a delightful experience.
TIAT uses technologies that enable students to learn better, engage effectively and perform their best. Students are sought after by the top aviation organizations for their live line maintenance capabilities and base maintenance skills. This is a testament to the learning procedures that are implemented in the Institute.
Training Challenges at TIAT
TIAT has invested millions in procuring and setting up scrapped models of premier aircraft including Boeing 787, Learjet, Cessna, and various helicopter models apart from avionics systems ranging from fully operational landing gears and jet engines. This equipment needs to be maintained and kept operational for a demonstration to students and subsequent practicing by the students. This includes oiling, greasing, and spare parts.
Another challenge faced by the trainees is the ability to look inside the internal structures of the real scale aircraft components to understand its construction and working. Using CAD models is not of great help since it uses effectively a 2D flat screen and cannot be viewed at a real scale due to the limitation of the screen size. Besides this, the typical other problems were related to students queuing up to access the aircraft and equipment for closer hands-on inspection and operation.
73% Improvement in Training Effectiveness with Immersive Learning Environments with SOLIDWORKS XR
TIAT adopted Exxar, an immersive presentation tool that direct streams 3D CAD models from various applications like SOLIDWORKS, Siemens, Autodesk and PTC without any file format conversion. The collaboration feature in Exxar (SOLIDWORKS XR) makes it easy to invite several users allowing them to inspect and interact with the model at a 1:1 scale. Exxar also provides several tools including visual markups, measurements, and part manipulation which allows students to familiarize themselves with important sections of the aircraft like the fuselage, cockpits, under-wing sections, landing gears, nose cone, in a much more interactive way compared to physical mockups.
- Exxar allowed TIAT to directly stream 3D CAD models into a Virtual Learning Environment without any conversion from proprietary formats and explore entire aircraft models at a 1:1 scale, just as they would with a real physical model.
- With the adoption of Extended Reality in their teaching process, Thakur Institute has made its mark across industries that their students will not only be among the best in theory but will be upskilled to ensure that they are industry-ready from the start. Today, the institute has a state of the art XR technology-driven Centre of Excellence that allows students and by extension the organization several other advantages.
“Exxar saved us valuable time earlier wasted in the mundane preparation for the training which we could now use for introducing newer training in the curriculum. The effectiveness of the training simulation has increased resulting in a very learned, satisfied and smart workforce for the industry”
Result
With the adoption of Virtual Reality in their teaching process, Thakur Institute has made its mark across industries that their students will not only be among the best in theory but will be upskilled to ensure that they are industry-ready from the start. Today, the institute has a state of the art VR/AR technology-driven Centre of Excellence that allows students and by extension the organization the following advantages.
Return on Investment
- Money – The investment paid off within the first semester of the academic session wherein TIAT saved on maintenance expenditure and also saved by avoiding to spend on procurement of scrap models from the market which would have cost millions in refurbishing and logistics, not to mention the hassle of paperwork and delays involved in required for permits and clearances. By using Exxar, existing and new SOLIDWORKS models can be loaded into XR and students can start exploring and experimenting right away.
- Time – By using Exxar (SOLIDWORKS XR), TIAT has saved thousands of man-months in terms of training setup where the physical models were earlier needed to be propped up and made ready for training and also subsequent time spent in maintenance.
- Ease of Use – By using Exxar (SOLIDWORKS XR), TIAT is able to avoid the physical efforts involved with the training on models, avoid travel and fatigue involved in traveling from the classroom to hanger which were located away from the institute’s premises and more importantly the risks associated with the physical handling of aircraft models like students getting hurt or the aircraft itself getting damaged due to negligence.
- Accelerated Learning – Overall, the adoption of Exxar has resulted in accelerated learning for students of TIAT due to saving in time involved in procuring and setting up aircraft for use and ease of use by avoiding the fatigue and risk of handling large physical models of aircraft.
“Students are now making much lesser or no mistakes at all since the maintenance instructions and operations can be played and rehearsed multiple times before operating aircrafts hands-on. This has saved much enormous time and money involved in simulating an aircraft operation using physical prototypes.”
Mr. Vivek Kulkarni
Sr. Instructor, TIATConclusion
By adopting Exxar (SOLIDWORKS XR) for their aircraft training simulation and maintenance instruction requirements, TIAT has leapfrogged in their efforts to deliver faster and efficient training to their students and at the same time cementing their position as the premier aviation training institute in the world.
Exxar has proved to be of immense help to TIAT in terms of cost savings, faster time to set up and deliver training and maintenance instructions, safety for both instructor and students, accelerated learning and innovation ultimately leading to enable TIAT to take its place of pride as the leading training institute in the aviation sector.
Tushar Suradkar
Mechanical Engineer with 23 yrs of experience, specializing in Design Automation, CAD Customization, AR/VR Product Development, and Channel Enablement
