Boeing hopes to use 5G technology to improve aircraft maintenance and increase safety for military engineers. (Photo provided by Boeing)
boeing aims to increase the mission capability of military aircraft and improve the safety of military engineers through two initiatives leveraging 5G technology. They are Autonomous Aircraft Inspection (AAI), which uses drones to take high-resolution photos of aircraft to identify damage, and Advanced Training Operations and Maintenance (ATOM). Use the. microsoft Hololens will allow the military to “securely contact” industry representatives to assist in repairing parts.
” [AAI] The photos that are being taken and the data that is being captured and analyzed are extremely valuable and that’s the great strategic sustaining value of what we’re doing. It also has the operational impact of keeping young airmen away from the tail or attacking them when they get up there. We know what they want,” said Scott Belanger, Next Generation Product Support team leader at Boeing Global Services and a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and logistics officer, on August 15. He said this in a virtual interview on Sunday.
“Currently, 50% of all damage is caused by humans. [aircraft] Commercial and Department of Defense inspections are being overlooked,” he said. “That’s the industry standard. At the Department of Defense, it’s [percentage] Their technicians are younger and less experienced, so they can be a little more expensive.Small-scale tests that we have conducted over the past two years [Joint Base Pearl Harbor] Hickam, we’re at 73 percent, which is pretty good considering we started at 50 percent. For anomaly and damage capture, we believe we’ll be in the high 70s. ”
AAI inspections are limited to hangars, but could be expanded to outdoor inspections at Hickam next year.
The AAI effort began in 2021, with drones being used by Pittsburgh-based small businesses. Close to global autonomy, inspecting a C-17 cargo plane at Hickam. The rear of the drone is equipped with Boeing’s Automatic Damage Detection Software (ADDS).
verizon is building a 5G network on Oahu, but the network is not yet complete.
To that end, AAI has relied on credit card-sized government-issued “pack” cell phones to emulate a 5G network until the Oahu project is complete.
In contrast, the ATOM experiment uses the Verizon 5G network. “They placed the experiment in the C-17’s flight line,” Belanger said. “Verizon installed some of the emitters for the network in a very old World War II-era chimney on the base to ensure adequate coverage.”
Ari Locher, Near Earth Autonomy’s inspection group leader, said in an Aug. 15 virtual interview that the AAI “does not eliminate the need for visual inspection.”
AAI makes [inspection] It provides more flexibility and reduces risk to airmen,” she said. “We’re taking the same airmen who are in the elevator or walking inside the plane and bringing them down to the ground so they can accomplish their mission faster and more safely.”
Locher said 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks are insufficient for military data needs. “We want to be able to store large photos on the cloud to speed them up and get the most out of them,” she said. “I’m thinking of uploading a 61 megapixel photo over my network, but that network needs to be able to handle large files.”
Near Earth Autonomy’s work on drone inspection for aircraft maintenance began in 2017, when NEA collaborated with Boeing on a C-17 research and development project at Boeing’s Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) plant in San Antonio. It started in .
Belanger said it would take “approximately 180 hours” to bring the C-17 into Boeing’s MRO air base, conversion process or the Air Force’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia. “We think we can reduce this significantly.” [to] Around 50 [hours] Get a more accurate assessment before the aircraft is sent. [to depot]”
“That means the aircraft will be out in the open for a week undergoing an external inspection by a team of six to eight technicians,” he said. “They take digital photos manually, but the photos aren’t the same every time and aren’t as quality as a drone.” [photos] It has, and it’s dangerous. [Technicians] You have to take an elevator, put on a harness, and ride a high, multi-layered T-tail.of [NEA] The drone inspects the top surface. [C-17] The jet crashed in about 30 minutes, and the resulting photos are analyzed by NEA’s Jedi software and our aircraft damage detection system to create a report that shows technicians where the damage was. ”
Boeing plans to expand the AAI effort to other aircraft, possibly Navy aircraft at Whidbey Island, Wash., and other Air Force cargo planes, tankers and bombers.
Boeing and NEA have partnered to “scan and begin to establish an operational base for drones.” [the] C-5,” Belanger said. “We just scanned the KC-135 and KC-46, and this year we plan to track the B-52 and even the P-8.”
Because 80% of Pentagon aircraft, including the C-17 and the venerable B-52, are not digitally designed model-based engineering (MBE) aircraft, human engineers will continue to be the key to maintenance, Belanger said. MBE aircraft include his T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft for the Air Force and his MQ-25 Stingray tanker for the US Navy. Both are made by Boeing.
AAI’s goal is “not to reduce manpower,” but “to make existing visual inspections more efficient, safer, and more useful for mission readiness,” Belanger said. “Over the past two years, we have been recording what is truly a ‘poor man’s digital record’ for each of our people on C-17 in Hickam. [aircraft] tail. This is a powerful tool for sustainable planning. Its “tailing” information is currently not captured. ”
“I think the Department of Defense is working on that,” Belanger said of AAI. “They seem to be providing funding every year, and as long as that funding continues, Boeing will continue to work with partners like the NEA to acquire the fighter jet technology that’s needed right now, especially in the Pacific region. Let’s go.”
This article was first published defense daily report, sister publication of Avionics International. Edited. Read the original version here >>
