Aircraft Battery Diagnostic and Prognostic System

Batteries are used to perform such mission critical functions as; start engines and auxiliary power units (power requirement), provide emergency back-up power for essential avionics equipment (energy requirement) and assure ground power capability for maintenance and preflight checkout. GEM Power, LLC will demonstrate the feasibility of the development and integration of an on-board passive diagnostic and prognostic technology for the F/A-18 aircraft and its M8565/4-1 batteries. This approach will result in batteries being used for their full useful life and identify batteries in need of replacement prior to battery and equipment failure. Unscheduled down time and associated costs will be eliminated while mission readiness and safety are increased. Using the diagnostic and prognostic algorithms developed for its battery charging technology as the foundation, GEM Power will develop the algorithmic approach for a passive monitoring system that would "listen" to signals between the battery and the various on-board devices being powered to determine battery airworthiness. The University of California Riverside's College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) will provide software development and hardware recommendations for implementation of the overall passive system. Information as to the electrical requirements and configuration of the F/A-18 will be provided by Boeing Phantom Works.