Open Call for Innovative Defense-Related Dual-Purpose Technologies/Solutions with a Clear Air Force Stakeholder Need

Aircraft maintenance is a critical aspect of Air Force support, directly responsible for the efficiency and effectiveness of the Air Force. However, maintenance is often time-consuming and riddled with mistakes, resulting in operational and financial consequences. Furthermore, the most critical maintenance personnel – those that are highly advanced – are those in highest demand and lowest supply. As a result, we propose a solution that combines the power of existing turbomachinery virtual modeling software with an augmented reality landscape to improve maintenance efficiency. The SoftInWay-patented software, AxSTREAM, allows users to view critical aircraft turbomachinery in a virtual environment and determine how best to improve their hardware. Through an add-on modification to the AxSTREAM software, we plan to leverage the power of augmented reality to diagnose problems and recommend solutions to maintenance engineers in an intuitive manner. Furthermore, the proposed software solution will also integrate artificial intelligence to analyze data, providing better diagnoses and more reliable recommendations. Using our proposed solution, aircraft maintainers of various skills can operate more efficiently without relying on a limited supply of specialized knowledge. Ultimately, aircraft maintenance crews will be able to conduct their operations more effectively, reaping vast benefits for the entire Air Force.