The aerospace Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) industry continues to experience sustained growth as both legacy and next‑generation aircraft platforms rely on increasingly complex and high‑value components that require repair over extended service lifetimes. This growth is driven by multiple factors, including the rising cost of replacement parts, extended fleet operation beyond original design life, and the growing challenge of sourcing components that are no longer available from original equipment manufacturers. As a result, advanced repair technologies that can restore functionality while maintaining airworthiness are becoming critical to fleet readiness and long‑term sustainment.

Laser powder Directed Energy Deposition (DED) has emerged as a powerful solution for aerospace MRO repairs due to its ability to add material precisely, restore damaged regions, and accommodate complex geometries. Broader adoption of laser powder DED in qualified repair environments remains constrained by limitations in process traceability, data interoperability, and confidence in qualification pathways. These challenges are amplified by the complex interactions between process parameters, material behavior, and component geometry inherent to DED-based repair.

This presentation will discuss the development of a digital thread infrastructure for laser powder DED that integrates digital twinning, deposition process modeling, and in‑machine non‑destructive evaluation within an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) architecture. The digital thread enables improved process prediction, enhanced transparency, and deeper process understanding. This physics‑informed and data‑driven framework establishes a foundation for future qualification strategies and supports consistent, repeatable repairs across both production and depot‑level MRO applications.