The Impacts of Using Augmented Reality to Support Aircraft Maintenance
Abstract
The United States Air Force (USAF) expends significant resources to address the rise in aviation mishaps derived from an overworked, understaffed maintenance community, and high operational environment. Currently, paper based technical orders (T.O.) are utilized by maintainers to accomplish aircraft inspections, servicing, and maintenance tasks. As technology advances, many civilian agencies have begun to leverage augmented reality (AR) to improve organizational proficiency. This research seeks to identify if the inclusion of AR within aircraft maintenance will positively or negatively affect maintenance task accuracy and completion time. A single variable randomized complete block design (RCBD), within-subject design of experiment (DOE) asses the differences between a treatment group (AR-enabled T.O.) contrary to the control group (paper-based T.O.). Results conclude AR-enabled T.O.s designed from the AF perspective will reduce simple task errors, but will not impact total task completion time. Differentiation from prior findings, application specificity, will impact AR effectiveness and utilization within the organization employed. Additionally, experimental research revealed the need to address current AF infrastructure barriers before implementation of the technology within the organization.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1077392
Entities
People
- Terry Jr R. Hebert
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology