Diagnostic simulator of the M-28 aircraft for the ground engineering crew in virtual technology

Transcription

1 Przemysław Mądrzycki, Krzysztof Butlewski, Piotr Golański, Roman Marchwicki, Małgorzata Perz-Osowska, Wojciech Puchalski, Instytut Techniczny Wojsk Lotniczych ul. Księcia Bolesława 6, Warszawa POLAND Diagnostic simulator of the M-28 aircraft for the ground engineering crew in virtual technology Abstract Diagnostic simulator of the M-28 aircraft is being designed in Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Warsaw together with the Polish Air Force Academy (PAFA) in Deblin. The project is co-financed by European Union, as a part of Innovative Economy project entitled: Development and tests of a diagnostic simulator of an aircraft with visualization technology applied The project acronym is SYMDIAG. This paper describes main assumptions of the project, which aim is to build a diagnostic simulator of the M-28 aircraft that can be used for ground engineering crew training. Keywords: diagnostic simulator, e-learning, ground crew training, virtual technology Introduction For quite a long time aircraft simulators were used mostly for training pilots and rarely used for training ground engineering crew. Usage of simulators for training has some obvious advantages, such us: - lower training costs; - lower environmental impact, as no fuel, lubricant or oil is used; - possibility of creating situations that could occur, but can t be safely trained on the real aircraft;

2 - easier trainee s access to training courses; - possibility of usage as refresh learning; - reduced usage of real aircraft. Training offered to the ground engineering crew is extremely crucial for flight safety. Air Force Institute of Technology has developed and implemented the e-learning based training system SOWA for the ground engineering crew of the Polish Air Force. The system have been applied in the Polish Air Force Academy four years ago and since then has been effectively used. At present it comprises of learning material for M-28 aircraft and for W-3 helicopter. It has considerably increased the effectiveness and attractiveness of training, which was proved by surveys carried out among the students. Experience gained during development and usage of Sowa training system is extremely useful in development of SYMDIAG simulator. The project is entitled Development and tests of a diagnostic simulator of an aircraft with virtualization technology applied (No. UDA-POIG /09-00) and is financially supported by the Operational Programme Innovative Economy, within the priority framework of Research and Development of New Technologies. Action 1.3 Support for R&D projects for entrepreneurs, performed by R&D centres. Sub-action Development projects. Basic project assumptions Designed simulator should model the aircraft s fuselage in virtual reality, with it s basic technical elements. It should also model possible malfunctions and their symptoms. Also the inside of the aircraft s cockpit would be modeled, with all controlling elements and switches interactive. The trainee would be able to perform the same diagnostic procedures as on real aircraft. The malfunctions that would be implemented in the simulator s learning paths would exactly resemble those that could happen on the real aircraft, with all symptoms that goes with the particular malfunction. The trainee would have to find and identify the malfunction and afterwards suggest and adapt proper actions and procedures leading to malfunction removal. At the beginning of training the system should suggest the trainee right answers, but as the training continues the amount of hints should diminish. The simulator will be equipped in a system that will monitor all actions taken by trainee and check whether they were perform correctly. It will allow instructors to monitor student s progress. Thanks to that

3 the trainee should be better prepared for work on the real aircraft and the training evaluation would be easier. The simulator s structure Simulator designed in AFIT and PAFA would be used for ground technical crew training. In the simulator two people will be able to work in the same time: the instructor and the trainee. The simulator will consist of 3 main parts: - trainee workbench a virtual cockpit; - trainee workbench a virtual fuselage; - instructor workplace. The simulator s functional structure is presented in the Fig.1. The instructor s role will be: - preparation of scenarios for exercises; - monitoring the exercise s course; - monitoring the simulator s state; - evaluation of trainee s results. Trainee will be realizing connected with: - pre-flight inspections; - malfunction track down; - malfunction identification; - finding the proper diagnostic path leading to malfunction removal. Training program The instructor s workplace will be equipped in data bases of: - malfunctions that could occur on the aircraft; - pre-flight inspections; - proper diagnostic paths; This will be the base for different scenarios that could be used during training. There will be two different modes of simulator s work:

4 - without any malfunctions the trainee should perform only proper pre-flight inspection (Fig. 2a); - with a malfunction/malfunctions (Fig.2b). For the mode with the malfunctions the proper actions taken by trainee s should be: - perform pre-flight inspections; - detect any malfunctions that are signalized by indicators in the aircraft s cockpit; - identify the malfunction; - change the cockpit workbench to the virtual fuselage workbench; - find the right compartment where the malfunction has occurred and open it; - suggest proper repair actions by choosing one of given options; - close the compartment and go back to virtual cockpit workbench; - perform pre-flight inspections. The training management and monitoring will be executed via local network that connects the trainee s and the instructor s workbenches. Summary The simulator that is being developed by AFIT and PAFA will be used for ground engineering crew training for M-28 aircraft. The simulator will enable trainee to perform diagnostic paths and identify and remove malfunctions that can occur on real aircraft. Following the project s schedule, the simulator s hardware and software will be integrated in 2011, whereas in 2012 a virtual environment and scenarios of malfunctions will be embedded in the system. Designed simulator will be a complementary part to already implemented e- learning Sowa system. References [1] e-learning Training System SOWA Workshop Report, AFIT, Warsaw [2] Development and tests of a diagnostic simulator of an aircraft with virtualisation technology applied WP 200 Report. AFIT, Warsaw.2010.

5 [3] Przemysław Mądrzycki, Dariusz Karczmarz, Andrzej Rypulak, Andrzej Komorek: The e- Learning and simulation-based techniques in the training given to the aviation engineering staff, e-challenges 2011, October 2011, Florence, Italy. TRAINEE actions in the cockpit actions outside of the aircraft COCKPIT FUSELAGE trainee s actions observation trainee s actions observation training course monitoring INSTRUCTOR Fig. 1 Functional structure of simulator.

6 a) Pre-flight inspections Course Editor Scenarios without malfunctions b) Pre-flight inspections Typical malfunctions Course Editor Scenarios with malfunctions Diagnostic paths Fig. 2. Preparation of scenarios without malfunctions (a) and with malfunctions (b).