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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0080.PDF
SMART MAINTENANCE Time spent on engine maintenance can be reduced In the not-too-distant future, accord ing to British Airways, real-time datalinking of aircraft systems and engine parameters, with the data "intelligently" filtered, will keep engineer ing departments informed. BA also pre dicts that aircraft condition-monitoring systems (ACMS) will be used to answer "what if?" questions from ground- based engineers. The ACMS will soon be able to transmit data for analysis direct to engineering computers, using infra-red datalinks at docking gates. In the USA, this "Gatelink" system will probably be available within three years and it will mean a lesser need for airborne datalinking, which is costly and has a limited data capacity. There is already an ARINC standard for the neces sary onboard equipment, but its use depends upon the installation of high- capacity fibre-optic cable systems neces sary for the airport groundlinks. In the USA, the Gatelink infrastructure can be set up quickly because the airlines own their gates, whereas, in most parts of the world, gates are owned by airports. Today, the key to "smart", or data- controlled, maintenance is the software for owning the data-recording capacity and then processing, managing and utili sing data on aircraft flight-performance and airframe- and engine-component stress in service. This provides the poten tial to win service-interval credits and gives the engineers the tools to work in harmony with the operations department to extend component life even further. INTIMIDATING TASK The collection of data is already relatively easy, given the onboard equipment, but the quantity of data now available makes the processing and management of the operation an intimidating task. The lead ers in the field are now grappling with this problem. The essential onboard component in the system is the digital quick-access recorder (DQAR). The first airline to develop a QAR was BA, when, during the late 1960s, it was working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority towards certifica tion of the Category III automatic-landing system. At the time, regulatory flight-data 'Smart' maintenance saves time and money — and improves safety. David Learmount talks to pioneers in the field. Photographs by Mark Wagner. recorders (FDRs) — installed basically to provide post-accident information — did not record enough parameters and were slow to download. The first installations, in BA's de Havilland Tridents, were there fore born from a need to record flight parameters for analysis. The tests also spawned the first engine-monitoring sys tem, as the analysis programme continu ally needed more parameters. Now that BA has access to such data, it cannot imagine surviving without it, or the advanced successor systems used to retrieve it. Colin Murfet, BA's manager for avionics (flight-data recording), says that the system and the information is "...noto riously difficult to justify, but we'd feel very exposed without it". The airline's chief development engineer for avionics, Clive Baxter, says: "It is clear corporate policy that we will have this equipment on all our aircraft." In the present system, a second DQAR unit is the store for data from the ACMS, which, Baxter says, "...does a fair amount of intelligent work in terms of monitoring deviations from the expected norm". Murfet adds: "The one that delivers the really big numbers is engine monitoring." The prize is that work can be planned for the engine "...according to its condition, rather than hard hours". Recognition of trends is particularly vital for engine- condition monitoring, says Baxter, mak ing intelligent real-time datalinking an essential tool. Teledyne Controls supplies the ACMS, while Penny & Giles supplies BA DQARs. The DQARs record data on standard, removable, industrial-standard tape car tridges. Over 100 airlines have DQARs, but, says Penny & Giles, not all make full use of the recorders' potential. A simpler, but less capable, onboard system does not rely on a complete ACMS, but continu-' ously downloads the relatively few chan nels of information from a new-generation regulatory digital FDR via a data- PREVENTION 30 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 January. 1994
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