After each flight a number of activities have to be performed on the shuttle orbiter to get it turned around for the next flight. A part of this process is the repair and replacement of the High Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (HRSI) tiles. These tiles are designed to protect the shuttle orbiter from the intense heat of re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Each is uniquely shaped & sized, and each has a number for identification. A technician equipped with a Head Mounted Display(HMD) and a Body Wearable Computer(BWC) could effectively survey the severity and location of damaged heat tile. Currently the number on the tile is entered by hand on a pen based computer system and fed into the Thermal Information Processing System (TIPS). This process could be easier with a bar code reader attached to a BWC. Below is a bar code reader produced by Symbol that is extremely ergonomic.

Whether the coding on a heat tile is a painted number or bar code, erosion of the coding often occurs. This is understandable given the intense conditions that the space shuttle undergoes when re-entering the earth's atmosphere. This makes identification of individual tiles a arduous task. For the technician using a BWC, an interactive help file could be acquired from the internet that would assist him or her in determining the correct tile identifier on the damaged tile in question. The help file would essentially consist of a Java Applet and a montage of high resolution images of the shuttle's heat tile model. The Digital Microscopy and Scientific Visualization Laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical School has a similar "virtual montage" of the Kidney Glomerulus. Although this is not the same application it does demonstrate the technical feasibility of such a process. Having faster and greater access to information is the key to increasing productivity in the aerospace industry. The TIPS can be improved: At this time it is not possible to place an image acquired of a damaged tile on the system. This may be an important tool in characterizing the damage. Also at this time there is no problem report (PR) information co-located with other pertent information on the tile (i.e. attributes, gap fillers, etc.)

SpaceShuttle Main Engine Inspections

Some of the technicians involved with this operation could be equipped with HUD and BWC technology to increase quality and performance of the operation. Training videos of every step of the operation could be built into the procedure software operating on the technician's BWC. This is a productive way of capturing corporate knowledge. March 12, 1998