âDigital testbedâ could replace physical testing in aircraft manufacturing 21 Apr 2021 Professional Engineering Stock image. The Smarter Testing programme aims to explore digital inspection techniques for use in aircraft development and manufacturing (Credit: Shutterstock) âDigital inspectionâ using simulation and modelling could replace physical testing in the development of new aircraft, the partners behind a new project have said. The Smarter Testing programme, led by the National Physical Laboratory and Airbus, aims to explore how novel inspection techniques can be used to predict product performance and identify failures early. The three-year, £15m project, sponsored by the Aerospace Technology Institute, will use existing physical test programmes to generate data. That data will be used to develop the expertise, algorithms and frameworks needed to be able to replace physical testing with simulation and modelling.