Aircraft Damage Locator

This effort is concerned with improving aircraft battle damage collection through systematic collection and documentation of battle damage sustained by aircraft. Accurate damage collection is an integral part of aircraft survivability, since much can be learned through its examination and exploitation. Presently, damage geometry and location is typically performed by physical measurements made with tape measures from structural features such as fasteners, doors, or panels which are then transferred manually to paper. This is an inaccurate, insufficient, and time consuming process. To make the process more effective, it is desired to equip collection teams with an inexpensive, portable, digital damage locator system that can be quickly setup in a remote location. The system would quickly and accurately digitize fixed reference points on the aircraft and map battle damage geometry and location in three-dimensional space, accurately defining the damage relative to an overall digital CAD file of the aircraft. The system would store the damage information electronically for onsite engineering analysis or electronic transfer for rapid offsite evaluation, documentation, and/or database entry. In this SBIR proposal, BerrieHill Research Corporation shall identify and demonstrate a feasible design for a digital aircraft damage locator system.