Method and system for inspecting the outer skin of an aircraft or a component thereof

Abstract

A method and a system for inspecting the outer skin of an aircraft or a component thereof by scanning a surface of an outer skin of an aircraft with a line scan camera unit while the surface is illuminated with a first light field and with a second light field, and generating image data representing the surface while it is scanned. The image data is processed and defects of the surface and their characteristics and physical locations are automatically determined from the image data representing the surface during its illumination with the first light field and its illumination with the second light field. The defects, characteristics and physical locations are output. The first and second light fields may be formed as alternating bright field illumination and dark field illumination, or as light of a first color and light of a second color.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.