Developing a nondestructive test system using drone for aircraft

• Main Author: Mohamad Irsyad Danish Shaz
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Drone; Aircraft Inpection; Depth Camera

Safety has always been the most important thing in the aircraft industry. Every aircraft has to be inspected and repaired if there are any defects. The current existing method of aircraft inspection requires heavy machinery and it is time consuming. This project is to make an alternative method for inspectors to do visual inspection that is more efficient than the existing method. Apart from that, this study is to make a cheaper alternative to visual inspection of aircraft for maintenance. For the project, Intel Realsense Depth Camera D435i was used for its depth capability and DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 as the done for the new system. Tests were done to analyse the accuracy of the device to see if it can be used in aircraft inspection. The tests involve were depth analysis system test, wireless range for system test and lastly drone camera movement test with depth camera. Depth analysis system test has few tests such as maximum distance test, horizontal angled camera test and also vertical angle camera test. For the maximum distance test, the distance obtained was 130 cm. The result obtained for horizontal angle test is that the camera can get accurate data from 60⁰ to 90⁰ horizontally while for the vertical angle test, it can get accurate data from 80⁰ to 90⁰. All the data were obtained using Intel Realsense software called Intel Realsense Viewer. The Intel Realsense camera was then made wireless using an android phone. An app was developed for android phone that is compatible with camera. Unlike the existing software for the camera, the app gives only visual output but it makes the camera wireless. A case was designed to attach the Intel Realsense depth camera. The case was 3D printed using 1.75 mm PETG filament and a Prusa MK3S 3D printer. The weight of the printed case together with the Intel Realsense Depth Camera D435i is 120.4 g. The case was then attached to the camera and drone to see if it affects the movement of the existing camera. The results obtained were used to get the limit of the system. Improvements in software can be made to make the system better.