Aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) faces many challenges, for example the line maintenance performed between flights is always time-critical. Furthermore, due to the size and shape of the aircraft, some areas are hard to reach and to be inspected, such as the crown or the vertical stabilizer. To improve the inspection process, a camera can be used to capture the aircraft surface and identify the damage. However, an RGB camera can only help to pick up the damage based on the colour difference and the results might be affected by the aircraft livery. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) looks at reflectance to distinguish between different materials or chemicals despite being apparently the same colour. It has been widely applied in industries such as food safety, agriculture, pharmaceutics, etc. However, it has rarely been considered in the aerospace industry. This paper introduces a case study of inspecting damage on aircraft using an HSI camera. An HSI camera covering the range 400 - 1000 nm is used for this case study on metal and composite parts of aircraft. The aircraft parts, which came from decommissioned aircraft, are hit by simulated lightning strikes to recreate damage on aircraft. The damage can be identified by using HSI camera with range of 400 - 1000 nm. In the future, other ranges of wavelength may be used to study the damage since there might be more significant features of the reflectance spectrum to be used as markers. Thus, the damage ought to be easier identified since there will be more spectral information provided.
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