Atlantis' Integrated Maintenance Training System (IMTS) offers an economical, effective means for training personnel in maintenance techniques for the highly complex subsystems of today's military aircraft. Atlantis maintenance trainers for the F-15E, F/A-18, E-6A, and S-70A Black Hawk / Seahawk aircraft are in use by defence forces around the world.

The IMTS is based on high-fidelity computer simulations of aircraft systems and ground-based maintenance equipment. Trainees interact with the IMTS through the controls in replicas of the aircraft's cockpit(s) and on panels that show major aircraft system components and test and diagnostic equipment.

The IMTS responds to trainee inputs in the same way as a real aircraft. A large-screen interactive video control console allows trainees to perform a full range of troubleshooting and maintenance actions.

FEATURES

The controls and indicators in the cockpit are replicas of those in the actual aircraft and produce the same computer-generated responses to trainee actions. Trainees use controls in the cockpit to perform maintenance actions. The IMTS then produces a response to the action, identical to the response of a real aircraft.

Floor-standing simulation panels or SmartBoards® show schematic diagrams of the aircraft's principal subsystems and replicated test and diagnostic equipment. The diagrams are enhanced with pictorial illustrations, multi-coloured light paths, and aircraft gauges to show the subsystem's operation. Controls and switches allow the trainee to simulate routine maintenance and trouble locating procedures. Each time a maintenance action is simulated, a video sequence showing the same action being performed on a real aircraft is displayed on a video monitor.

TRAINING

In a typical training exercise, an instructor inserts a system malfunction into the IMTS. The trainee performs tests to diagnose the fault and then carries out the maintenance tasks necessary to correct it. The IMTS monitors each trainee's progress and automatically records the number of steps the trainee takes to find and correct the problem, along with any errors the trainee makes during the exercise. At the end of the training session, the IMTS provides the instructor with a printed Trainee Progress Report.

The Atlantis IMTS features a "free-play" mode that allows trainees to choose the sequence of maintenance steps. This offers a better simulation of real-world conditions than maintenance trainers that can only operate in a prescribed text-book sequence. In free-play mode, the IMTS warns of procedural errors, but halts the training exercise only if the trainee's actions would pose a hazard to personnel or equipment.

The Atlantis F/A-18 maintenance trainer.