Assistant Systems for Use in Air Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Tasks

Abstract

A customer expects decreasing costs for future product support services at equal or even better quality than today. This challenge of the future can be fulfilled by the introduction of a new technology assisting technicians or mechanics who perform service work. A scenario will be presented, which shows an assistance system that is used during maintenance level 1 or depot level skin inspections of the NH 90 helicopter, which is made to a high degree of CFK material. This system exactly overlays structural information, which is generated from rendered CAD images, onto the surface of the helicopter. Thus, a technician can easily judge if a visible deformation is, in fact, a severe or rather a cosmetic damage. The system displays on request previous defects in the neighbourhood of the actual damage, which might have an impact on the selection of the final repair scheme. Similarly, the new defect is stored in the air vehicle’s record for future use. In case that the experience of the mechanic is exhausted, a secure, remote connection can be established to consult with a specialist. Finally, it is shown that an efficient management of information can cope with challenges of the future.