Application of Acoustic Sensors for Helicopter Health Monitoring

This project will design an improved condition monitoring system for rotorcraft drive train mechanical components. The monitoring concept will employ the fusion of two advanced diagnostic technologies; Stress Wave Analysis and Abductive Network Modeling. Stress Wave Analysis is a signal conditioning and data processing technique for extracting quantitative measurements of friction and shock from machines with high background levels of noise and vibration. Abductive Network Modeling is an Artificial Intelligence technique for automation of pattern recognition and classification of stress wave signals that will result in a dramatic reduction in the size, complexity, and cost of the hardware and software required for accurate diagnosis of helicopter mechanical component condition and prognosis of remaining useful life. A database of stress wave recordings from H-60 baseline and seeded fault components will be employed to develop, train, and evaluate Abductive Networks for diagnosis of operating condition.