The average age of USAF aircraft is 29 years, and this aging fleet requires skilled maintenance personnel to perform constant care to generate airpower. The Air Force employed the use of virtual and augmented reality technology to aid in developing aircraft maintenance personnel as well as to supplement established training methods. The application of augmented and virtual realities has reduced the time needed for classroom instruction during maintenance initial skills training without sacrificing the quality of education. The next step is to develop a system and processes that use extended reality assisted with artificial intelligence for use on the flight line. Various industries have developed augmented reality capabilities that can be used by the Air Force to provide access to technical orders in a hands-free medium. Mixed reality will also open opportunities for multimedia walkthrough instructions that include video teleconference support within a headset. Artificial intelligence has the potential to assist a maintainer through mixed reality by providing predictive maintenance instruction while informing quality assurance processes in near real time. Artificial intelligence could recognize tasks at hand to help recall instructions and record accomplished tasks. Theoretical applications like this could free the cognitive load of individuals by automating the need to record information and recall reference material.
The scale of equipment needed to accomplish this AI assisted vision is not developed yet but several industry efforts with further development could enhance aircraft maintenance operations. This paper will compare current augmented reality technologies being employed by the USAF, those in development in complementary industries, and look for solutions that improve sortie production rates as well as their first-pass quality work. This cost benefit analysis will be measuring the time saved on process due to use of augmented reality assisted with artificial intelligence versus already established procedures.
Keywords
3D SCANNING,AI,AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR),AUTOMATION,CLOUD COMPUTING,HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAYS,MIXED REALITY
Additional Keywords