Long Distance Remote Maintenance Capability

The successful Phase I project provides a solid foundation for delivering a portable Distance Communications Maintenance System (DCoMS) by the end of a Phase II project. Navy Shipyard Engineers and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) provide maintenance support for aircraft carriers. This requires significant amounts of travel and standby time reducing SME availability and increasing costs. The problem is the time wasted by qualified problem solvers traveling great distances to support critical issues. A related issue is leveraging and sharing lessons learned across the fleet. The overall SBIR project goal is to develop and deliver the DCoMS so that shoreside engineers can provide maintenance and troubleshooting support without traveling. A related goal is enabling a retrievable and sortable Historical Archive Library (HAL) data base so that maintenance personnel can learn from the experience of others. The shipboard portion of the kit includes a person-worn camera, remotely controlled bulkhead mounted camera, inspection camera, headset/microphone, a shipboard machinery space communications tablet/hub, and the related DCOMs software. Machinery space set-up requirements by shipboard maintenance personnel are minimal power on the tablet, ensure there is connectivity, and follow instructions provided by the GUI to establish the audio, video, and data communication link with shoreside personnel.