Augmented Reality Technology to Reduce Aviation Maintenance Costs

The project “ARAMA - Augmented Reality Aircraft Maintenance Assistant” was presented at MAKS-2019 under the aegis of “High tech product services center” of Moscow Aviation Institute.

ARAMA is a Russian development of the application of Augmented Reality technology, which can increase the efficiency of technical personnel in the maintenance of aircraft. The startup project called “ARAMA” was demonstrated at the static parking lot of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 at the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019. Everyone was able to personally experience the possibilities of the new development by the example of task in servicing the nose landing gear of the Russian short-haul narrow-body passenger airplane. Advanced development that optimizes the performance of maintenance and repair work on an aircraft can significantly reduce time and maintenance costs.

The development was primarily of interest to the representatives of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company and their Italian counterparts from Superjet International with the prospect of its use for servicing Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. Visitors to the display were able to test the new development. To use it, it was enough to put on an AR-device and look at the plane. The program recognizes the detail of the aircraft that the eye is aimed at and automatically displays the necessary documentation for maintenance of the aircraft.

Within the framework of MAKS-2019, representatives of the NINSAR development company held successful negotiations with a number of potential customers. The technology of using augmented reality for aircraft maintenance has interested not only operators and suppliers of aircraft, but also manufacturers of industrial equipment for the production of airframe construction. Agreements were reached on analyzing the economic efficiency of using this development to perform maintenance of production equipment with representatives of one large European company.

The ARAMA project appeared as a result of the hackathon as part of the Quantorium VR / AR Fest network of children's technology parks, organized by the Federal State Educational Institution “Fund for New Forms of Education Development” on April 3–6, 2019 in Skolkovo.