A Comprehensive Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Impact Technologies, in collaboration Northrop Grumman and Lord Corporation, propose to develop a comprehensive health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) for direct application on the Fire Scout UAV selected as the Class IV UAV for the Army’s FCS. After several meetings between Impact, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the Fire Scout UAV has been identified as the Army platform with the greatest need for prognostic and health management (PHM) capabilities and will replace the currently limited RTB (rotor track and balance) system. Specifically addressing this need by NG and Boeing, the Impact team will re-design and deploy an innovative 3-lb HUMS unit and fully demonstrate the capabilities on a scheduled Fire Scout flight test with Northrop Grumman. This will include embedding real-time HUMS algorithms for anomaly detection, fault classification and prediction into a newly designed COTS, aerospace-certified digital signal processing (DSP) based platform. Based on an analysis of the common and critical UAV subsystems, vital parameters related to UAV performance and mechanical health will be monitored to address condition-based maintenance activities that are required to ensure UAV mission success. Key UAV mechanical systems including the engine and drive train, along with a core RTB capability, will act as the core of the HUMS-UAV system development for this next phase of the program. A strong endorsement letter from NG is attached that highlights the need for this program in order to deliver the required Army PHM capability to the Fire Scout. The proposed COTS-based HUMS system is expected to improve UAV mission success rates and positively impact total ownership costs. The proposed Phase II development program includes the innovative 3-pound hardware design specifically addressing the needs of the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout UAV, but will be designed to be configurable to other UAV platforms. This work will leverage Impact's existing expertise in integrated HUMS and vehicle prognostic health management (IVHM) systems, Lord’s expertise in flight-qualified electronics hardware and Northrop Grumman’s vehicle design expertise.