Decision Support Framework for Military Aircraft Fleet Retirement Decisions

Aircraft fleet managers lack tools to aid decision-making for fleets nearing retirement, which leads to rushed and ill-informed decisions. Accordingly, aging aircraft fleets are underutilized and fleets can be retired before their useful lifetime has been expended. A decision support framework is proposed to solve the aging military aircraft...

Comparison of Data-driven Prognostics Models: A Process Perspective

Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction is crucial for the implementation of Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) systems, enabling application of predictive maintenance strategies for critical systems (e.g. in aviation, power, railway). Existing literature addresses aspects of data-driven prognostic approaches, with a predominant focus on...

A Mobile decision support system for aircraft dispatch

Delays are costly to airlines in both money and image. A significant number of delays is caused by unexpected technical failures of aircraft systems or components. These failures, if not dealt with efficiently, can cause disruptions in the flight schedule and network. The annual costs of these type of disruptions add up to an estimated cost...

A Functional Architecture of Prognostics and Health Management using a Systems Engineering Approach

Prognostic and Health Management (PHM) describes a set of capabilities that enable effective and efficient approaches towards data analysis for fault diagnostics and failure prognostics. This can support decision making related to health management, sustainment and operation of critical systems, such as aviation systems. As a result of the...

Integrating Maintenance Work Progress Monitoring into Aircraft Maintenance Planning Decision Support

A decision support framework is proposed, allowing for the integration of aircraft maintenance work progress monitoring into the aircraft maintenance planning decision support process. The framework is able to monitor the progression of planned maintenance by analysing real-time data on work progress. This can be used to explore optimal task...

Fleet Management Decision Making With Individual Aircraft Tracking Data

Individual aircraft tracking data can be used by aircraft fleet managers to detect patterns in historical usage as a means to aid aging aircraft decision-making. This work tackles two aspects of applying these tracking data: investigating retirement patterns and assessing how base assignment can impact usage. The A-10, C-17 and F-35 acquisition...

Multi-criteria weighted order based maintenance decision making

Decision making in daily maintenance requires consideration of multiple factors. The importance of each of the factors fluctuates depending on the repair scenario and the needs of the maintainer. In order to include the prioritisation of multiple criteria, a weighted decision making model is developed. The model evaluates all repair options and...

A multi-criteria decision making framework for aircraft dispatch assessment

The aircraft dispatch decision is a complex analysis based on many factors related to airworthiness regulations, aircraft health status, resource availability at current and future stop(s) and operational preferences of the operator. Within the turnaround time (TAT) a decision has to be made whether the aircraft can return to service, defects...

Component-Based Data-Driven Predictive Maintenance to Reduce Unscheduled Maintenance Events

Costs associated with unscheduled and preventive maintenance can contribute significantly to an airline's expenditure. Reliability analysis can help to identify and plan for maintenance events. Reliability analysis in industry is often limited to statistically based approaches that incorporate failure times as...

Multi-level repair decision-making process for composite structures

This paper details the development of a decision-making model that evaluates the multiple repair levels that a composite structure can undergo, each with its inherent achievable survivability and consequence to operations in terms of availability, costs, and scheduling. The goal of this model is to provide the maintainer an integrated approach...

Aging Military Aircraft Landscape: A Case for End-of-Life Fleet Optimization

Military aircraft fleets are continuing to age despite increased structural integrity concerns and rising maintenance costs. Aircraft are not being replaced or retired in large numbers but are instead having their lives extended beyond their original design service lives. Because aging aircraft cost more to maintain, this additional burden on...

Measuring compliance during aircraft (Component) redeliveries at KLM engineering & maintenance

Aircraft and aircraft components are redelivered to the next operator or owner during the phase-out process. During this process the operator is required by law and contract requirements to show compliance with maintenance procedures. At KLM E&M the phase-out documentation process is under increasing scrutiny as the number of aircraft...

The KNOMAD Methodology for Integration of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Knowledge within Aerospace Production

The paper is associated with the integration of multi-disciplinary knowledge within a Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE)-enabled design framework. To support this integration effort, the KNOMAD methodology has been devised. KNOMAD stands for Knowledge Optimized Manufacture And Design and is a methodology for the analytical utilisation of multi...