(1) Extensible AR and Hardware Capability Packages for Remote Maintenance

Weapons systems continue to increase in both technical and supply chain complexity, exacerbating delays in already strained maintenance capabilities. While technologies for remote operation (eg, drones flown from trailers around the world in real-time) have advanced significantly over the last several decades, the Navy has struggled to integrate these types of technologies into shipyards, fleet readiness centers, and maintenance depots. The current maintenance paradigm requires platforms to return from theater and to retrograde systems to depots. This results in multi-year delays of critical platforms and weapon systems as well as wasted downtime from transit. In a major power conflict, such retrograde may even be impossible due to loss of supply lines. TurnAround Factor (TAF) proposes a novel combination of proven COTS Augmented Reality (AR) systems plus a flexible extensible framework allowing for deployable hardware and software Capability Packages that provide remote access to specialized tools and diagnostics. This novel framework approach, based on TAF’s expertise gained developing the successful Distribution Expeditionary Depot (DDXX) for DLA, will enable rapid deployment and immediate maintenance wins. AR paired with this framework will greatly speed adoption of moving a growing range of maintenance processes further forward. This approach minimizes initial specialized equipment and allows the Navy to hit the ground running with immediate “wins” of new capabilities and operational efficiencies. Long term, this infrastructure enables iterative expansion to larger and more complex tasks as well as fully automated remote maintenance as Capability Packages are upgraded. In the interim, TAF’s solution provides a transition platform, allowing on-site personnel to setup the tools that are then operated remotely by specialists in CONUS.