A web-based decision support system for aircraft dispatch and maintenance

Koornneef, H.; Verhagen, W.J.C.; Curran, R.

doi:10.3390/aerospace8060154

A web-based decision support system for aircraft dispatch and maintenance

Title

A web-based decision support system for aircraft dispatch and maintenance

Author

Koornneef, H. (TU Delft Air Transport & Operations)
Verhagen, W.J.C. (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University)
Curran, R. (TU Delft Air Transport & Operations)

Date

2021

Abstract

Aircraft dispatch involves determining the optimal dispatch option when an aircraft experiences an unexpected failure. Currently, maintenance technicians at the apron have limited access to support information and finding the right information in extensive maintenance manuals is a time-consuming task, often leading to technically induced delays. This paper introduces a novel web-based prototype decision support system to aid technicians during aircraft dispatch decision-making and subsequent maintenance execution. A system architecture for real-time dispatch decision support is established and implemented. The developed system is evaluated through a case study in an operational environment by licensed maintenance technicians. The system fully automates information retrieval from multiple data sources, performs alternative identification and evaluation for a given fault message, and provides the technician with on-site access to relevant information, including the related maintenance tasks. The case study indicates a potential time saving of up to 98% per dispatch decision. Moreover, it enables digitalization of the—currently mostly paper-based—dispatch decision process, thereby reducing logistics and paper waste. The prototype is the first to provide operational decision support in the aircraft maintenance domain and addresses the lack of correlation between theory and practice often found in decision support systems research by providing a representative case study. The developed custom parser for SGML-based documents enables efficient identification and extraction of relevant information, vastly contributing to the overall reduction of the decision time.

Subject

Aircraft maintenance
Data integration
Decision support
Dispatch assessment
Information retrieval
Mobile tools

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e0a18b3a-b81a-457a-a877-47b0e72a9b33

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8060154

ISSN

2226-4310

Source

Aerospace — Open Access Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal, 8 (6)

Part of collection

Institutional Repository