Sensory Prognostics and Management System (SPMS) 2012-01-2095

The Sensory Prognostics and Management Systems (SPMS) program sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing developed and evaluated designs to integrate advanced diagnostic and prognostic (i.e., Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) or Health Management (HM)) capabilities onto commercial airplanes. The objective of the program was to propose an advanced HM system appropriate for legacy and new aircraft and examine the technical requirements and their ramifications on the current infrastructure and regulatory guidance. The program approach was to determine the attractive and feasible HM applications, the technologies that are required to cost effectively implement these applications, the technical and certification challenges, and the system level and business consequences of such a system. The scope of the SPMS program included consideration of data collection and communication from the continuous monitoring of aircraft systems, observation of current system states, and processing of this data to support proper maintenance and repair actions. Baseline commercial platforms and HM applications for various subsystems of these aircraft were identified. The list of possible applications was down-selected to a reduced number that offer the highest value. Requirements, designs and system architectures were developed for these applications. The application areas considered included engine, tires and brakes, pneumatics and air conditioning, generator, and structures. SPMS program products included identification of application sensors, functions and interfaces; HM system architecture, descriptions of certification requirements and approaches; the results of a cost/benefit analyses and recommended standards and technology gaps. The work concluded with observations on nature of HM, the technologies, and the approaches and challenges to its integration into the current avionics, support system and business infrastructure.