ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO HARDNESS MAINTENANCE/HARDNESS SURVEILLANCE

THE NEED EXISTS FOR A SIMPLE AND COST EFFECTIVE METHOD TO DETERMINE THE STATUS OF HARDNESS CRITICAL ITEMS (HCI) FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF SYSTEMS WITH E3 SURVIVABILITY REQUIREMENTS. TRADITIONAL METHODS OF TESTING AND MAINTAINING SYSTEMS TO DATE HAVE NOT PROVEN TO BE EFFECTIVE. RECENT TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES MAY PROVIDE THE MUCH NEEDED SOLUTION TO HM/HS FOR E3. FOR EXAMPLE, EXPERT SYSTEMS, UTILIZING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INFERENCE ENGINES OPERATING ON APPLICATION SPECIFIC RULES AND INFORMATION, HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BEEN APPLIED TO PRODUCTION LINE QUALITY CONTROL PROBLEMS. ALSO, VIRTUAL SYSTEM HARDWARE TOPOLOGIES MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO IMBED COMPLEX INSTRUMENTS WITHIN LARGE SCALE DIGITAL SYSTEMS. THESE AND OTHER RECENT TECHNOLOGIES ARE TO BE STUDIED IN THE PHASE I EFFORT. FOLLOWING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DESIGN GOALS FOR THE ADVANCED HM/HS CONCEPT, A TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT WILL BE PERFORMED TO IDENTIFY THE MOST PROMISING APPROACHES TO MEETING THE DESIGN GOALS. SEVERAL ALTERNATE SYSTEM CONCEPTS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO AID IN THE EVALUATION PROCESS. THE SELECTED APPROACH WILL THEN BE DEVELOPED INTO A COMPLETE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN. KEY PORTIONS OF THE APPROACH WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN A RAPID PROTOTYPING EFFORT.