BeauV wrote:Many years ago we did a AI program to diagnose a bit of military equipment. We had the "bright" idea of linking it to a big-ass computer back at HQ that would do the difficult job of running the BIG AI software, yards and yards of PROLOG code (for those with a tech history bend). Well, this worked GREAT at the lab, but we sort of forgot about the fact that this piece of equipment was going to get tossed out of a C-130 and the guys on the ground didn't want the SatPhone link we'd assumed they would use broadcasting a signal that was like a "bomb here" signal for one and all to receive.
We "redesigned" the entire system to work with a 8.5X11 inch laminated sheet of paper that showed a flow chart, and a Marine who read off light patterns on the front panel. No "AI" anywhere, damned little electronics. It cost about 1/100th of what the AI radio linked system did and worked about 95% as well; it got a much higher rating than that from the guys in the field who didn't have to broadcast anything! Within two hours almost every Marine who took the class could diagnose the busted systems faster than the AI software back at HQ. It was a lesson in the appropriate and inappropriate application of technology that I've never forgotten.
Beau,
Others haven't bothered to learn. Read up on ALIS, the F-35 "Autonomic Logistics Information System". Coupled with a "robust" Prognostic Health Management System (PHM), it is intended to forecast failures before they happened, send that info back so the part and mechanic (who only had to know how to change the part) coulds be waiting when the aircraft landed, update the master data so a new part could be ordered, update the aircraft capabilities so it could be scheduled for another mission and identify that the bad part was being inducted into the retrograde system for repair. Since the aircraft was going to set new standards for reliability and maintainability, we were planning "on demand" training based on electronic training jackets so that the mechanic could have his training updated "just in time" as he was unlikely to have recently done that job.
Sure. No problem. At the time, I was PM for Naval Aviation Training and Ranges and my team was responsible for scoping training infrastructure, managing the procurement of training systems (Mechanic and aircrew), and developing manpower estimates to feed the system - with plenty of assistance from the aircraft PMs and their contractors, of course. For the F-35, we estimated that if ALIS/PHM was only 90% effective, the manpower would go up by close to 50%, the training pipeline for mechanics would double and cost would blow up the budget. 5 years later, the estimate for life cycle support for the F-35 jumped above $1Trillion dollars.
As I used to describe to my job as a Navy Aviation Maintenance Officer, I made a pretty decent career fixing things some contractor swore would never break.
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:16 pm