AUTO-SCAN: Inlet and Exhaust Damage Registration Sensor

ABSTRACT: Current methods for inspecting aircraft engine inlet and exhaust cavities are labor intensive and error prone. Airmen crawl into ducts looking for defects, trace suspected sites on Mylar sheets noting their position relative to cavity features, and manually enter the data into an aircraft assessment system. Technology that can reduce inspection times and eliminate sources of human error will benefit the Air Force by significantly increasing aircraft reliability and availability while reducing lifecycle maintenance costs. To address this critical need, Intelligent Automation, Inc. proposes to develop AUTO-SCAN, a damage registration sensor that will automatically characterize and register defects in the aircraft coordinate system. The Phase I effort demonstrated the feasibility of the AUTO-SCAN concept through the design, development and testing of a Phase I prototype. Phase II will develop the AUTO-SCAN system to TRL 8/MRL 6 maturity, integrate it with current aircraft health assessment systems, and validate the utility of the system via multiple user operational evaluations. BENEFIT: The key advantage of the proposed device is to automate the process of defect analysis to decrease inspection time, improve accuracy and eliminate sources of human error. This inspection technology will benefit the Air Force by significantly increasing aircraft reliability and availability while reducing lifecycle maintenance costs.