Engine Condition Monitoring process model for

data digitalization during ACARS failure

Presented By
-- Sreehari K
(Dept of Aerospace Engineering)
Topics

1. Introduction
2. Current Problem
3. Possible Solution
4. Benefits
5. Process Model
6. Estimated Cost and Time

Conclusion
 1. Introduction

• Current commercial Aviation industries looking for ECM data as a predictive maintenance tool for
analyzing engine components' condition after continuous running hours.

• The focus is mainly on improved reliability and Flight safety.

• ECM is the process of monitoring key engine parameters to detect impending failures and assess
engine performance

• Almost 70-80% of airliners need ECM data for enhancing the safety and operationality of the
aircraft with early detection of faults /exceedances in the engine, and also reduces the cost of
maintenance as well.

• ECM can provide valuable data on engine performance, which can help maintenance teams plan and
schedule maintenance activities more effectively.
 2. Current Problem
• Most of the Engine data is being transmitted through ACARS with the required server address
to the respective Aviation Operations Centre (AOC) for monitoring data.
• When the ACARS system fails or is uninstalled in Aircraft for ECM transmission, the flight
crew needs to enter the engine data manually using techlogs for those corresponding flight
date times.
• At present the process of incorporating the missing data in the ECM report is not in progress
when the data server/equipment proves obsolete. Some Airliners may not use the condition
monitoring functionalities in FDR as most of them are purely dependent on ACARS because
of its automatic transmission mode.
 3. Possible Solution

• The Flight crew handwritten flight logs need to be collected and need to be digitalized for suitable
ECM plotting to fill in the missing data during ACARS Failure.

• The flight data can be entered in the log book as per the timings recommended by the maintenance
unit during the cruise, take-off, and climb phases based on the monitoring requirements.
 4. Benefits

Helps in More visibility to

Remote missing data in
monitoring and plotting
Transit
Maintenance Advantages

Better data
High data storage
fidelity of the
performance
plots
 5. Process Model

1 OCR Algorithm 2B Data Parsing

Flight/ Engine Embedded and cleaning
log data Digitizer
A data file with
Hard data in the proper file 3B
handwritten form or extension
printed
4F Data Analysis &
processing

Data converts to
plotting based on
No of logs
 6. Estimated Cost and Timeline

160,000

140,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

0
Data collection - 3 months Software development - 6 months Verification and Validation - 3 Quality Testing and Prod- 2 months
months

Cost
 Conclusion

• The manual entries in the flight log/engine logbook data can be digitized using OCR
algorithms or software as per the proposed model.

• The process currently can be limited to narrow body fleets like ATR, Bombardier ..etc
during ACARS transmission failures. But in future, this can be enhanced using IOT and
AI tools for better accuracy for widebody fleets as well.