AR glasses speeding up repairs of aircraft
A China Southern engineer repairs an aircraft engine wearing AR glasses.
An augmented reality (AR) app was launched in Shanghai on Wednesday to improve the efficiency of aircraft repairs and reduce flight delays caused by malfunctions.
China Southern Airlines' Shanghai branch released smart AR glasses along with a remote technical support platform developed by the airline's engineering department.
Wearing the AR glasses, maintenance personnel at the city's Hongqiao and Pudong international airports can receive real-time guidance and malfunction diagnoses from experts based in the carrier's headquarters in Guangzhou.
Experts can mark the suspected glitch and send back to the smart glasses of maintenance staff on site. Most common malfunctions can be solved quickly with the guidance of the experts, said Xia Jing, an official with the aircraft repair factory of China Southern Shanghai.
"A group consultation can also be held among multiple experts to solve difficult problems together," Xia told a press conference on Wednesday. "The experts can also help to monitor and double check the work of the on-site maintenance staff."
The AR glasses and platform can spot basic wrongly installed accessories on aircraft automatically, while an upgraded version, which is already under research, can spot more varieties and complicated safety risks, he said.
A China Southern engineer repairs an aircraft wearing AR glasses.
Most domestic carriers still rely on telephone consultations to fix problems found by maintenance staff. Sometimes, experts have to be sent to the site to solve the issues.
"Many flight delays or cancellations are caused by the traditional measures that waste a lot of labor cost and time," Xia said.
The new technology is expected to be promoted to other branches of China Southern across the nation and lead reform on the aircraft repairs, the airline said.
China Southern also launched virtual realty (VR) glasses in Shanghai, which will be widely used on the training of maintenance staff. Details of common aircraft types such as the Airbus 320 and engines have been copied into VR scenes in the glasses.
Staff will be trained by wearing VR glasses, which can help to reduce the training costs and ensure safety, an official with the carrier said.
China Southern has a wide variety of aircraft types along with flight simulators. The VR technology will be further expanded to solve training difficulties, the official added.
Wearing AR glasses, the aircraft maintenance personnel can receive real-time guidance and diagnoses from experts.
