Abstract:Large manufacturing companies face challenges in information retrieval due to data silos maintained by different departments, leading to inconsistencies and misalignment across databases. This paper presents an experience in integrating and retrieving qualification data for electronic components used in satellite board design. Due to data silos, designers cannot immediately determine the qualification status of individual components. However, this process is critical during the planning phase, when assembly drawings are issued before production, to optimize new qualifications and avoid redundant efforts. To address this, we propose a pipeline that uses Virtual Knowledge Graphs for a unified view over heterogeneous data sources and LLMs to enhance retrieval and reduce manual effort in data cleansing. The retrieval of qualifications is then performed through an Ontology-based Data Access approach for structured queries and a vector search mechanism for retrieving qualifications based on similar textual properties. We perform a comparative cost-benefit analysis, demonstrating that the proposed pipeline also outperforms approaches relying solely on LLMs, such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), in terms of long-term efficiency.
Abstract:Aerospace manufacturing companies, such as Thales Alenia Space, design, develop, integrate, verify, and validate products characterized by high complexity and low volume. They carefully document all phases for each product but analyses across products are challenging due to the heterogeneity and unstructured nature of the data in documents. In this paper, we propose a hybrid methodology that leverages Knowledge Graphs (KGs) in conjunction with Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract and validate data contained in these documents. We consider a case study focused on test data related to electronic boards for satellites. To do so, we extend the Semantic Sensor Network ontology. We store the metadata of the reports in a KG, while the actual test results are stored in parquet accessible via a Virtual Knowledge Graph. The validation process is managed using an LLM-based approach. We also conduct a benchmarking study to evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art LLMs in executing this task. Finally, we analyze the costs and benefits of automating preexisting processes of manual data extraction and validation for subsequent cross-report analyses.