Expert Troubleshooting and Repair System

ABSTRACT: Ridgetop Group, Inc. will design and develop a prototype of an electronic warfare (EW)"Expert Troubleshooting and Repair System"that has the following characteristics: (1) troubleshooting support that presents a prioritized list of methods; (2) a list of test-dependent action(s), including recommended repair actions; and (3) an Analog-Degradation Detection and Analysis (ADDA) tester. Troubleshooting methods and repair actions will be a hybrid causal-based and knowledge-based system that is populated and trained using existing historical maintenance data from the WR-ALC LEAN Depot Maintenance System (LDMS). The prioritization will be based on fault analysis of recorded maintenance and repair actions to effect a reduction in mean-time-to-repair (MTTR) rates and an increase in mean-time-between-maintenance events (MTBME), with emphasis on (1) using analog-degradation analysis of digital data as a leading contributor to intermittent problems and increase in CND (could not duplicate) repair codes; and (2) identifying"bad actor"chains wherein one component degrades, then causes other components to subsequently fail. BENEFIT: There is a large installed base of complex aerospace systems in service requiring rapid repair times as failures occur. Conventional methods of determining the problem root cause do not take full advantage of relevant historical data to improve the process of repairing the system, especially at the Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) level . The anticipated benefits of an Expert Troubleshooting System (ETSS) using an Analog-Degradation Detection and Analysis (ADDA) tester are the following: 1. Mean-time-to- repair (MTTR) rate is reduced. 2. Mean-time-between-maintenance events (MTBME) is increased. 3. Reliability is increased because a"bad actor chain"(when a single failure cascades to cause subsequent downstream components to be stressed and fail) is repaired in a single maintenance event. 4. Could not duplicate (CND) repair codes are reduced because ETSS and ADDA provide a method of detecting analog degradation of digital data, and such degradation causes both intermittent and solid failures in the field. Commercial applications include the Depot-Level repair of electronic systems such as office automation equipment, automated teller machines, automotive electronic modules, and industrial machine tools having electronic controls.