Embedded real time diagnostics and health management for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Payloads

ABSTRACT: MSI has developed and is delivering systems for condition based monitoring (CBM) and prognostic health management (PHM) of tactical vehicles, aircraft and their payloads. The system includes workstation tools for remote assessment and a Smart Connector with an electronics processor and a data acquisition module mounted inside the backshell of avionic connectors. The ground based software is proven for trouble shooting in tactical vehicles. The Smart Connector is approved an Army contract to perform health monitoring of avionics on the Light Utility Helicopter and will transition to the navy EA-6B. MSI proposes new research to identify ways and means to use embedded inferential fusion to determine sources of degradation by fusing output data from the sensor suite. Our work will study a) fusing available information arriving from the RPA at the commander"s console and b) fusing information from a passive Smart Connector attached to the sensor payload. Raytheon (supplier of the AN/DAS-1 multispectral imager) has will participate as a subcontractor to assist in identifying parameters and data that can be fused to provide commanders with accurate diagnosis and prognosis of sensor suite health; and recommend what can done remotely to restore system health during the mission for potential degraded situations. BENEFIT: The military applications for the proposed technology includes remotely piloted aircraft, autonomous systems, automatic decision-making, and sustainment. There are parallel commercial applications for any remote system where sensor payloads are critical to other non military agencies such as Homeland Security border patrol, drug reinforcement agencies, and even land based security monitoring devices.