National ResearchCouncil Canada de recherches Canada

Institute forInformation Technology de l'information

Conseil national

Institut de technologie

The Integrated Diagnostic The Integrated Diagnostic System (IDS): System (IDS):

Remote Monitoring and Remote Monitoring and Decision Support for Decision Support for

Commercial Aircraft - Commercial Aircraft - Putting Putting Theory into PracticeTheory into Practice

Michael Halasz, Bob Orchard, François Dubé - Michael Halasz, Bob Orchard, François Dubé - NRCNRC Robert Ferland - Robert Ferland - Air CanadaAir Canada

1999 AAAI Spring Symposium on AI in Equipment 1999 AAAI Spring Symposium on AI in Equipment Maintenance Service and SupportMaintenance Service and Support

Stanford University, CaliforniaStanford University, California

March 23, 1999March 23, 1999

OverviewOverview

• motivationmotivation• benefitsbenefits• airline operational environmentairline operational environment• IDSIDS• practical considerationspractical considerations

Vision - Vision - from data to from data to decisionsdecisionsVision - Vision - from data to from data to decisionsdecisions““...to make optimum use of available data, ...to make optimum use of available data, information, and knowledge across the information, and knowledge across the organization to improve engine organization to improve engine maintenance and troubleshooting”maintenance and troubleshooting” ...July 1992...July 1992

...November 1993...November 1993aircraftaircraftaccurate diagnosis

(what, how?)

accurate prognosis(what, how, when?)

repair management(planning, scheduling)

MotivationMotivation• need for systems that help in need for systems that help in time criticaltime critical, , accurateaccurate, and , and

consistentconsistent decision making decision making• tools to tools to integrate integrate and and interpretinterpret

• volumes of volumes of usefuluseful data provided by new generation equipment data provided by new generation equipment• organization’s diverse and distributed information assetsorganization’s diverse and distributed information assets

• right dataright data, , knowledgeknowledge and and expertiseexpertise at at right timeright time necessary to optimize maintenance mission - necessary to optimize maintenance mission - distributeddistributed

• unscheduledunscheduled maintenance is persistent maintenance is persistent

““more with less” more with less” butbut

““maximize equipment utilization”maximize equipment utilization”

MotivationMotivation

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

$ Billions

Forestry and Logging

Mining/Quarrying/Oil Wells

Manufacturing

Air Transport

Railway Transport

Truck Transport

Public Passenger Transit

Telecom Carriers

Electric Power

Gas Distribution

Pipelines

repaircapital

0 10 20 30

$ Billions

Total

source: Statistics Canada 1996source: Statistics Canada 1996

$What can innovative IT do?What can innovative IT do?

5 - 8%5 - 8%

maintenance budgetmaintenance budget

2 - 4%2 - 4%

35 minutes35 minutes

Focus: Line Focus: Line TechnicianTechnician

• aircraft at gate• passenger offload • snag recognition• consult MEL • consult TSM• consult aircraft history• carry out test (BITE)• fault isolation (TSM)• parts required?• order parts• rectification (AMM)• certification

TroubleshootingTroubleshootingfieldfield rep.rep.

results:results:- flight cancellationflight cancellation- unhappy customersunhappy customers- lost $$$lost $$$

results:results:- flight cancellationflight cancellation- unhappy customersunhappy customers- lost $$$lost $$$

maintenance maintenance control centrecontrol centre

partspartsmanualsmanuals

engineeringengineering

line / rampline / ramp

IDS ConceptIDS Concept

engineeringengineering

know the faultknow the faultdecision madedecision madeready to fix a/cready to fix a/c

manufacturer rep.manufacturer rep.partsparts

MCCMCC

SOCSOCIDSIDSelectronicelectronicmanualsmanuals

Functional ArchitectureFunctional Architecture

situationalproactive

reactive

local databases

case-bases

interfaces- system

- user

learning algorithms

language interpretation

knowledge-bases

trigger

IDSIDS

dis

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d d

ata

&

dis

trib

ute

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ata

&

kn

owle

dge

sou

rces

kn

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Simple Simple ExampleExampleTime Phase Event Description

13:04:12 take-off NAV13:08:34 cruise WRN ENG 2 OVSPD PROT FAULT13:08:35 cruise FLR HMU (OSG), J7//EIU2FAD13:09:14 cruise WRN ENG 2 COMPRESSOR VANE13:10:08 cruise FLR VBV ACT, HMU ENG2A//EIUFADEC13:19:50 cruise WRN SFCS13:20:56 cruise FLR FLP LH PROX SNSR 1 37 CVOR LGCIU 1//SFCC 113:22:28 cruise FLR L FLP DISC PROX SNSR 37CV // LGCIU 113:22:41 cruise SNG ENG 2 COMP VANE OCCURRED AS PWR ADV TO CLB PWR THRU

17000 FT.13:41:01 cruise ECR ENGINE CRUISE REPORT13:42:21 cruise CPR CRUISE PERFORMANCE REPORT13:48:02 cruise FLR ILS-2 NO DATA FROM CONTROL SOURCE // ILS 213:48:08 cruise FLR AFS:FMGC2 //AFS,RMP1,2OR313:48:27 cruise FLR AFS:ILS2 // AFS13:55:50 cruise FLR DME-1 TRANSCEIVER // DME 113:59:01 cruise ECR ENGINE CRUISE REPORT14:01:57 cruise FLR DMC2:NO FQI2 DATA // EIS 2, EIS 1, EIS 314:37:23 cruise FLR AFS:ADIRU1/2/3 DISAGREE // AFS14:47 cruise snag SEAT COVER AT 3F NEEDS TO BE CHANGED-COVER CHANGED15:00:34 cruise WRN NAV ALTI DISCREPANCY15:08:54 cruise FLR CHECK VHF-1 ANTENNA CIRCUIT // VHF 115:21:31 at gate MPF MAINTENANCE POST FLIGHT REPORT22:52 snag REPLACED MASTER BALLSCREW ACTUATOR FLEX DRIVE&SPACER,

ENG RUN CARRIED OUT,ACFT CHECKS SERV

performance reportsperformance reports

symptom clustersymptom cluster

repairrepair

Practical ConsiderationsPractical Considerations

GeneralGeneral• get right into business justificationget right into business justification• understand end user’s problems/worldunderstand end user’s problems/world• find appropriate champions (upper find appropriate champions (upper

management & technical staff)management & technical staff)• expect many organizational changesexpect many organizational changes• iterate frequently with usersiterate frequently with users• control expectationcontrol expectation• users don’t easily express wants/needs users don’t easily express wants/needs

Technology transferTechnology transfer• new technologies (AI, OO, …)new technologies (AI, OO, …)• infrastructure to deliver distributed real time infrastructure to deliver distributed real time

applicationapplication• electronic manual accesselectronic manual access• legacy system linkslegacy system links• minimal changes to business practicesminimal changes to business practices• active user participationactive user participation• year 2000year 2000

Practical ConsiderationsPractical Considerations

R & D goals/balanceR & D goals/balance• evolutionary process (resist throw away evolutionary process (resist throw away

approach)approach)• be prepared to make significant “leap of faith” be prepared to make significant “leap of faith”

commitment up front until idea catches oncommitment up front until idea catches on• impact of unresolved issues such as:impact of unresolved issues such as:

• automatic case creation (limited access to personnel)automatic case creation (limited access to personnel)

• unsupervised learning techniques (failure prediction)unsupervised learning techniques (failure prediction)

Practical ConsiderationsPractical Considerations

Current StatusCurrent Status

• prototype (v2.11) operating at Montreal and prototype (v2.11) operating at Montreal and Ottawa (4 sites) since Nov ‘96Ottawa (4 sites) since Nov ‘96

• IDS v3.0 (distributed, component based)IDS v3.0 (distributed, component based)• Air Canada infrastructure issues & developmentAir Canada infrastructure issues & development• extend to other aircraft (currently A320/319)extend to other aircraft (currently A320/319)• soliciting requests from companies to fulfill soliciting requests from companies to fulfill

service provision rolesservice provision roles• Aerospace DAta Miner (ADAM): encouraging Aerospace DAta Miner (ADAM): encouraging

results, > 4 yrs operational dataresults, > 4 yrs operational data

VideoVideo