Enhancing Model Generalizability in Aircraft Carbon Brake Wear Prediction: A Comparative Study and Transfer Learning Approach

Predictive maintenance in commercial aviation demands highly reliable and robust models, particularly for critical components like carbon brakes. This paper addresses two primary concerns in modeling carbon brake wear for distinct aircraft variants: (1) the choice between developing specialized models for individual aircraft types versus a unified, general model, and (2) the potential of transfer learning (TL) to boost model performance across diverse domains (e.g., aircraft types). We evaluate the trade-offs between predictive performance and computational efficiency by comparing specialized models tailored to specific aircraft types with a generalized model designed to predict continuous wear values across multiple aircraft types. Additionally, we explore the efficacy of TL in leveraging existing domain knowledge to enhance predictions in new, related contexts. Our findings demonstrate that a well-tuned generalized model supported by TL offers a viable approach to reducing model complexity and computational demands while maintaining robust and reliable predictive performance. The implications of this research extend beyond aviation, suggesting broader applications in component predictive maintenance where data-driven insights are crucial for operational efficiency and safety.