A Software Architecture for Collaborative Training in Virtual Worlds: F-16 Airplane Engine Maintenance

Abstract. The maintenance of military aircraft is complex and exhaus-tive, requiring an accurate training program. This process is not fault tolerant and requires certification renewal periodically. Furthermore, the process involves many professionals and resources, requiring phases of maintenance and verification of the tasks. Cooperation between profes-sionals in the overall process is essential and requires strong team co-ordination. It is a highly costly process, since aircrafts are scarce and their readiness is essential for missions, and it requires a scheduling ef-fort between all team members and aircrafts. The availability of tools that allow intensive training without aircraft presence is an asset to the maintenance squadrons. Virtual worlds have simulation and collabora-tion capabilities to implement this process. This paper presents a soft-ware architecture developed for training engine maintenance squadrons for certification, using virtual worlds platforms. This architecture is be-ing tested in cooperation with the Portuguese Air Force and an engine maintenance squadron of F-16 aircrafts