Software agents : an application to the airline MRO industry

Abstract

Poor management of aircraft spare parts, human-related maintenance errors and the lack of coordinated decision-making in maintenance scheduling are some of the problems plaguing the airline MRO industry. Airlines, independent MRO providers and government agencies, particularly the Federal Aviation Administration have identified inefficiencies in MRO operations as a barrier to the realization of a safer and more effective air transportation system. The National Airspace System is slowly beginning to address this problem and one of its initiatives involves the gradual adoption of agent-based solutions and ontologies to automate some of the business processes in MRO depots. Agents and automated processes are ideal choices for making sense of ontologies and are key components in the next generation Semantic Web. The focus lies with improving business logic and practices of air carriers' MRO activities using software agent principles. This thesis proposes agent architectures for aircraft inspections, repairs and supply chain management of aircraft replacement parts and discusses the resulting implications of using agents as a decision-making tool for aircraft maintenance and repair in commercial airlines.