With the Microsoft HoloLens
and the success of Pokémon Go, Augmented Reality (AR) is being developed more
and more, the use of augmented reality for industrial applications is coming
closer. Aviation is an industry with long certification processes for new
technologies like this, but AR applications are being developed as we speak. The
use of a Heads Up Display (HUD) is already widely applied to military aircraft
and even is used in the newest civil aircraft. But what are the applications of AR in
the area of aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO)?
(Image source: Netherlands Aerospace Centre)
Safety and cost savings are the number one and two drivers
in Aviation (up to you to decide which comes first). Among others, because of extensive
(and mostly expensive) maintenance activities, the level of safety remains sky
high and the number of casualties as low as possible. However, due to human
factors, enough incidents occur that could have expensive effects. Proper
training and experience minimizes the risk of these incidents to occur, and AR
could help minimize these risks even further. I found some interesting applications of AR that have been developed already in MRO and will discuss them in the next section.
Firstly, Microsoft has demonstrated the application of getting
familiar with for instance a turbofan engine (link). From my own experience I
could add to this that seeing something in real does add up to the theory
you learn in books. Adding AR to this equation could combine these two and even
go further. Secondly, Operose has developed an application for the HoloLens, in cooperation
with Magnetic MRO, which displays liveries on aircraft (link). It is not an
application that could be useful on a daily basis for every MRO, but it
demonstrates the way AR could be used to see the application on 1:1 scale. And lastly, the
Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), in collaboration with KLM Royal Dutch
Airlines, developed a demonstrator for using AR in maintenance training (link).
The use of AR could be applied even further, to the
maintenance activities itself. Kingsee demonstrates in this video (link) the
application of AR during maintenance tasks. The way certain things are
displayed could be improved, but it shows the basic application of AR within
the maintenance activities. I expect that steps will be taken to reach a way of
working like this, however it has its pros and cons.
Starting with the pros, the major improvement that comes
with using AR is a more efficient maintenance and more fault free system. The
tonnes of paperwork that came with the old aircraft will become obsolete and
all documentation could be done digital which saves a lot of money. With the
development of more and more ‘Ditigal Twins’ and 'Big Data', these buzzwords could
even be combined. Imagine a line maintenance manager doing a workaround during
a turnaround with all the information he or she should have displayed on the
focus spots itself? Countless applications could be imagined.
Digital Twins and AR, a golden combination?
Back to using AR in the maintenance process, it will also
come with a lot of cons: when looking at the dirty dozen in human factors (link), some came up by imagining the application of AR. Development of a Lack of
Assertiveness is one of the first Dirty Dozen that crossed my mind: When personnel
gets familiar with using the HoloLens and, by a technical error, information is
displayed wrongly, personnel could mindless follow the wrong instructions.
Using physical manuals, this problem could be mitigated for the biggest part.
Stress is a second Dirty Dozen that crossed my mind: due to being exposed to
more inputs than in ‘normal reality’, the stress level could be enhanced that
could lead to hazardous situations. When a mechanic has not slept well and a
lot of noise is present in the hangar, the stress level could rise to an
unwanted level. The last dirty dozen is not the most obvious, but personnel
will experience fatigue problems faster when using an application like the HoloLens.
The lens works with projecting the augmented reality around you by using a
screen right in front of your eyes. Unconsciously, your eyes will switch from
focussing to the screen to focussing on the surface where the object is
projected on very fast which results in eye sore and higher fatigue for the
personnel using the AR application. The research by NLR also mentioned this
issue (link).
Due to all the cons I just mentioned, I cannot imagine a
future of Aviation MRO without the application of AR. We, as Aviation
professionals, should be aware of the Dirty Dozen and the new challenges in the
Human Factor area that are linked with applying AR in MRO. In the meantime,
developments like MRO AIR are a major stepping stone to the actual application
of AR.
