2020 Maintenance Innovation Challenge Winner Uses Augmented Reality to Enhance Aircraft Readiness

Even though the DOD Maintenance Symposium was canceled due to travel restrictions, the popular Maintenance Innovation Challenge (MIC) remained a “GO.” With a record-breaking 128 submissions, the panel of judges had a tall task to narrow the field to six finalists and ultimately choose the winner. For the first time in MIC’s history, the same submission won both the Overall MIC Award as well as the People’s Choice Award. The CREATIVE Lab, part of the Naval Air Warfare Center Lakehurst took home both awards for their Augmented Reality Remote Maintenance Support Service (ARRMSS)” submission. The ARRMSS will also receive $50K from NCMS to support a one-year demonstration.  

ARRMSS is an enabling technology for an overarching Augmented Reality for Maintainers framework. It is an interactive experience where objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated content, otherwise known as augmentations, in the users’ field of view. Information about the real world of the user is overlaid with information about the maintenance environment.  

ARRMSS provides the ability for a fleet maintainer to communicate with a subject matter expert (SME) instantly using video/audio/text. SMEs have the added ability to place augmentations/drawings/files onto systems and objects in the maintainer’s field of view to help guide them during operation/
maintenance/troubleshooting. Allowing the SME to see in real-time what the maintainer sees can exponentially help reduce system downtime and improve fleet performance. 

This technology can help the fleet during operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of equipment both ashore and afloat. 

The ARRMSS demonstration will take place in collaboration with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One as part of a training exercise at the Marine Corps Station at Yuma. Maintainers are typically flown in to address repair work for platforms not normally maintained at YUMA, increasing the cost of the exercise. This ARRMSS demonstration will illustrate how maintainers can use augmented reality technology to immediately connect with SMEs to guide repair and sustainment work while hundreds of miles away at the CH-53K station in Miramar.  

The CREATIVE Lab at Lakehurst focuses on researching and developing augmented reality technologies to support the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of Support Equipment and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment 

To learn more about this award-winning technology contact ctma@ncms.org