Innovative Monitoring for Aeronautical Application Through Augmented Reality

The technologies grouped under the term Extended Reality (XR) are constantly evolving. Only fifty years ago, they were delegated to the science fiction strand and were not feasible except in the distant future; today, they are successfully used for personnel training, diagnostic maintenance, education, and more. This article focuses on one such technology: Augmented Reality (AR). In particular, it aims to present an improvement of a software created to monitor the values of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for aeronautical applications. The ability to overlay the status of various network-connected smart elements allows the operator to evaluate actual conditions in a highly intuitive and seamless manner, thus accelerating various activities. It was evaluated in a controlled environment to perform strain and temperature measurements of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), where it demonstrated its usefulness.