Boeing looks to expand autonomous aircraft inspection system

Boeing has been looking to trial its Boeing Automated Damage Detection Software (BADDS) and UAS system on more aircraft including those embarked on moving ships, Shephard has learned. The company has been evaluating the possible use of BADDS and UAS to inspect ships.

Trials have taken place with Skydio’s X10D and a Near Earth Autonomy (NEA) platform which involved the UAS carrying out and recording an inspection of an aircraft’s surfaces. The information was then run through BADDS and its algorithms.

Scott Belanger, capabilities integration team lead for Boeing Global Services, said the company’s Autonomous Aircraft Inspection (AAI) programme had seen UAS flown extensively in 2023 and 2024 on large transport and multirole aircraft such as C-17, KC-46, KC-135, C-40 and C-5.

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“Manual inspection of an aircraft takes six hours, involves a four-person team, equipment stands and lifts and scheduling can take days,” Belanger said. “If we inspect with Sykdio or NEA drone we can cut C-17 inspection time to three hours with an effectiveness rate from 50% to 93% true positive anomaly detection rate and providing digital record.

“UAS show angles inspectors have never seen [but] they are not here to replace inspectors but here to upscale and enhance.”

Key problems found on aircraft surfaces have included paint defects and defects in seals, composite and hardware, as well as damage to specific areas such as where receiver and boom come together, leading edge of aircraft, and screws and rivets.

Importantly, details of the inspection can be retained by tail number to feed into future inspections and the database of past inspections can also be fed into the system.

Belanger explained: “The UAS carries out the inspection autonomously, operating within a geo-fence with perimeters set including altitude limits with the UAS looking at what is there, deciding what it thinks is important, deciding number of images and what route to take before creating a model.”

Boeing has been carrying out trials on Lockheed Martin C-130J transport aircraft this month and has also been conducting Battle Damage Assessment at Sea on an undisclosed destroyer allowing evaluation of ship damage with the ship travelling at 5-7kt. Additionally, consideration has been given to evaluating aircraft onboard, with work ongoing to deal with the challenge of a moving deck.