A4A/SAE NDT Innovation Award Honors Team for Camera-Based Tracker App That Improves Accuracy and Efficiency

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, and SAE International jointly presented the 20th Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Innovation Award at the A4A NDT Forum today. The award was presented to a joint team from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia, that developed a camera-based NDT tracking app that reduced inspection times and improved accuracy and efficiency.

The team developed an innovative NDT Tracker tool integrating augmented reality that eliminated the need to manually draw ultrasonic (UT) grids. UT grid inspections are widely used by airlines and maintenance, repair and overhaul stations (MROs) to map corrosion and verify remaining thickness of blended areas.

Typically, 0.5" or 0.25" UT grids are drawn by hand on the inspection surface and involve two inspectors in close coordination to take readings. These methodical tests are notoriously time consuming.

The mobile, camera-based Tracker increased inspection speed for large grids by 20-30 percent, shortening the grid-inspection phase, which has led to accelerated turnaround time and increased maintenance throughput.

The Tracker is currently in active use at both Tinker and Robins Air Force Bases along with NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, located in California, and Antelope Valley College, in Lancaster, California.

Members of the 2024 NDT Innovation Award team include the following:

Paul Davidson, NDI Engineering Level III, Robins Air Force Base
Richard Duin, NDI Engineering Level III, Tinker Air Force Base
Doug Haanpaa, Senior Software Engineer, Cybernet Systems Corporation
Kevin Tang, Principal Investigator, Cybernet Systems Corporation
Nick Wandro, OC-ALC NDI Program Manager 76th AMXG/MXDEN, Tinker Air Force Base

"A4A congratulates this year's award recipients for developing the NDT Tracker, which has greatly reduced inspection times for gridding in the Air Force. By miniaturizing 3D localization technology originally developed by NASA, this application is poised to improve UT gridding for commercial NDT professionals and organizations industrywide," said Robert Ireland, A4A Vice President for Safety, Maintenance and Engineering.

A4A's NDT Forum is marking its 65th year at a four-day conference held in Nashville, where industry leaders are meeting to discuss current trends, issues and successes in NDT methodologies. The event features a number of presentations on achievements and lessons learned about technologies that help ensure the longevity and safety of aircraft structures by detecting defects well before they can be seen or cause a failure.

ABOUT A4A
Airlines for America (A4A) members are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and UPS. Air Canada is an associate member.

A4A advocates on behalf of the leading U.S. airlines, both passenger and cargo carriers. A4A works collaboratively with industry stakeholders, federal agencies, the Administration, Congress, labor and other groups to improve aviation for the traveling and shipping public.

For more information about the airline industry, visit our website airlines.org and our blog, A Better Flight Plan, at airlines.org/blog.

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ABOUT SAE INTERNATIONAL
SAE International is a global organization committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™.

More at http://www.sae.org.

SOURCE Airlines for America