Demonstrating the capabilities of IEEE standard P1636.2 mai in support of the DoD ATS framework

The ATS Framework Working Group focuses on identifying commercial standards that are not only acceptable to the needs of the DoD, but to industry as well. Therefore, the group is tasked with supporting, evaluating, and demonstrating the ability of the standards to meet the ATS Framework goals and objectives. Of particular interest to this paper is the ATS key element Maintenance Test Data and Services (MTDS). This key element addresses a need to share information across maintenance levels and across DoD / Industry ATS. The current information structures are often Service or platform dependant. Even though these systems do a good job of providing a logistics infrastructure, they seldom share information back to the maintenance chain or across platforms and Services. The sharing of this information is essential in performing complex and sophisticated diagnostics over the product's life cycle. Given a standard set of definitions and data formats, information may be shared among all users who have implemented the standard data content and format. A family of standards that meets the needs and objectives of the MTDS are being developed by the Diagnostic Maintenance Committee (DMC) of IEEE SCC20. One particular standard being focused on is the IEEE P1636.2 Maintenance Action Information (MAI) via Extensible Markup Language (XML). This standard is being developed as a component of the IEEE 1636 Software Interface for Maintenance Information Collection and Analysis (SIMICA) standard. SIMICA's purpose is to specify a software interface for the access, exchange, and analysis of product diagnostic and maintenance information. MAI provides a subset of the data needed to satisfy SIMICIA requirements. This standard has the capability to obtain and provide information to other SCC20 DMC standards. The standard facilitates the capture of data associated with the removal, repair, and replacement of particular systems / components. The schema, supported by its formal information model, defines classes of information that can be shared within the SIMICA family of standards.This paper will concentrate on the current status of the standard as it proceeds towards trial use status. A Phase I demonstration of the MAI concepts in a partial use case was conducted during AUTOTESTCON 2008. This demonstration showed the MAI's ability to produce standard interoperable information exchanges, as well as the use of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) tools operating in a net centric environment. The Phase II demonstration efforts involves interfacing with the IEEE 1636.1 Test Results and IEEE 1232 AI-ESTATE standards to collect maintenance data. This demonstration will stress the benefits achievable in a net centric integrated information environment, by building on the Phase I demonstration.