Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) for Afloat Information Technology (IT) and Network Services

goes hereBeacon’s approach to Topic N07-108 is aimed at providing not only prognostication and prescription, but the ability to act upon that information. As we explore the needs of afloat IT Systems, our focus will not center on new algorithms or system models. Because of the intense marketplace competition currently going on to provide network and system support at the BIT/BITE level, we do not believe our time would be well spent competing in that market space. Instead, we are interested in exploring how the results of these stand-alone prognostic and diagnostic solutions can be leveraged into a single and coherent support capability for an entire ship. There is a need for tools that automate and make efficient the use of this data to create a distributed diagnostics capability. The challenge in managing an environment such as this is the plethora of components utilizing different protocols, operating systems, hardware components and software protocols which are providing a wide range of services. Additionally, fault in one area can have a cascading affect and the ability to correct this type of degradation is difficult. Ultimately, our goal is to create a support system that seamlessly creates an interconnected grid of collaborative operations.