Aircraft Maintenance Training and Assessment: the Potential Applications of Mixed Reality

Abstract

Navigating the complexities of aircraft maintenance and the development of skilled technicians present significant challenges. Traditional training for such tasks requires the use of large, infrequently employed and expensive equipment and aviation materials that are not easily accessible. At the same time, the use of paper documents, physically separated from technicians, leads to inefficient cognitive processing due to the need for constant focus shifting. Mixed Reality (MR) technology integrates real and virtual objects into a unified spatial scene through an environment generated by machine vision and computer graphics. This technology has the potential to provide more economical and safer training and assessment conditions without time and space constraints. This study delves into the potential application opportunities of MR in aircraft maintenance training and assessment utilizing a combination of literature research and expert interviews. It summarizes the advantages and challenges associated with the application of MR technology and offers insights for the development of future MR-based aircraft maintenance training and assessment systems.