Page 22 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCOTBER 2017 Online Magazine

MRO FEATURE XXXXXXXXX XXXXOGY
AL TECHNOL
DIGIT
MRO FEA
TURE
Increased Intelligence

Smart aircraft drives MRO industry
By Aprajita Anil

With A Fleet oF Modernised ‘sMArt is now embracing disruptive technology like positioning during the cabin installation
aircraft’ taking to the skies, the changes Robotics / Artificial Intelligence and are marking process. Before the arrival of smart
are very apparent in the entire ecosystem further evolving in order to diagnose defects glasses for in-cabin applications, the technical
of the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul through wearable devices.” team had to decipher complex drawings and
industry (MRO). Equipped with innovative Supported by the Singapore Economic convert imperial measurements into metric
technologies that can record and deliver Development Board (EDB), Ramco Systems measurements in marking the position of the
important clusters of information, these with AFI KLM E&M as the first anchor equipment on the cabin floor. The operation
aircraft are bringing in important changes in partner, have opened an MRO Lab to develop that used to require three people and three
the approach of their maintenance and repair. advanced aviation IT solutions such as days, now only needs a single person operator
wearables for ground engineers and drones and six hours. The company will also deploy
VR and AR to inspect aircraft on the tarmac. “From facial the smart glasses this November aboard the
With maintenance accounting for over 10 recognition, gesture computing, augmented No. 3 A330neo aircraft.
percent of costs associated with any flight, reality to robotics and blockchain, the lab
maintenance technicians are critical to has been developing effective solutions Emerging Technologies
unlocking healthy bottom-line benefits. and use cases for the Aviation and Logistics Airbus’ Stade factory has also introduced
Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR) industries,” added Mr. SivaSubramanian. an innovative ‘mixed-augmented reality
can help them get their work done faster, The physical environment and complex application’ called “MiRA”. It is a tool aiding in
with a higher degree of safety. Speaking to nature of the work provides a compelling the production of A350 XWB fuselage shells.
the Asian Airlines and Aviation, Mr. Ramesh use case for AR to transform their workflow. Whereas production staff previously used to
SivaSubramanian, Head Innovation Lab, Leveraging on this technology, Airbus has manually progress through the installation
Ramco Systems said, “With significant collaborated with Accenture to develop steps, now, a projector casts a 3D image on
adoption of mobile devices, the MRO industry smart glasses to enable millimeter-precise the fuselage which is based on data from the

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