The integrated maintenance system (IMx+)

icaf2023 Tracking Number 28

The use of tools and methodologies for capturing the digital thread data generated through on-aircraft maintenance actions continues to be a key focus area for improved execution of aircraft structural integrity programs across the aerospace community. This includes tools to perform nondestructive inspection (NDI) and cold expansion (Cx) of holes, as implemented in the new Integrated Maintenance System+ (IMx+), an advanced maintenance technology integrating smart shop tools with automated data collection and spatial position tracking to improve aircraft quality assurance. The digital thread tools implemented within the IMx+ system helps to enable an effective ASIP to: • Establish digital thread with customized data fidelity level to better support fleet management and bridge the gap between maintenance tools and databases • Enable automatic maintenance data capture (Cx, NDI/NDE, geometric, photos, spatial position, etc.) and output to user-defined maintenance database • Establish quality assurance tools necessary for Cx full credit • Expand flexibility to interface with various maintenance tools and spatial tracking technologies • Complete cybersecurity requirements for approved use on secure networks While this type of technology is necessary to meet the growing needs for a sufficient digital thread, we must also be cognizant of their impacts on the maintenance community and find ways to meet structural integrity needs without overburdening the maintainer executing the work. This introduces the concept of data fidelity levels, which are determined based on the scope and criticality of each maintenance action. Have you ever asked what fidelity level of data is actually necessary to support your current and future structural integrity needs, as a one-size-fits-all approach is not practical? Current guidance does not exist to answer that question, leaving each entity in the community individually guessing on what fidelity of data is good enough for each scenario. Some initial guidance will be presented to facilitate that determination. The combination of defined methods and an array of tools as implemented in the IMx+ system is necessary to sew the digital thread together, ensuring the necessary quality assurance requirements are achieved for critical maintenance processes and supplying the structural integrity community with the necessary data to optimize fleet management.