Hands free data collection for aircraft maintainers

Todaypsilas high demand on our military aircraft and the corresponding lean maintenance workforce requires this lean workforce to focus their attention on repairing mission incapable aircraft, leaving little time to document their actions. When performing maintenance, technicians manage many resources, including team coordination requirements, various tools required for the job, technical order (TO) manuals, and various maintenance documentation systems. Many of these resources are directly associated with the primary task-repairing the aircraft, others are related to the secondary task of documenting their actions. Current documentation systems do not adequately integrate these secondary tasks with the primary goal of repairing the aircraft. A more streamlined documentation system, effectively integrated with the primary task, would enable greater accuracy in sustainment of aircraft over long periods of time. An autonomic communication exchange (ACE) prototype system has been developed that is designed for both hands-free and autonomic collection of aircraft maintenance data to electronically collect, record, and deliver diagnostic information while interacting with maintenance personnel working on an aircraft. Through conversational communication and other automated sensor inputs, ACE collects maintenance data as the technician continues to perform the primary maintenance task. This streamlined system would improve information about the prognostics of an aircraft by combining inputs from multiple sensors, operating data, and failure histories in an attempt to predict the life of a component, and to determine what maintenance is required and when.