Health Monitoring for Light Combat Aircraft

Health Monitoring for Light Combat Aircraft
Health Monitoring for Light Combat Aircraft
Case studies
April 18, 2016

Health Monitoring for Light Combat Aircraft

Over many decades, Air Force fleet managers have discovered that total cost of an aircraft asset can go far beyond the initial procurement costs. For many 20th-century combat aircraft, the maintenance costs over their life can be significant for each aircraft, which places a huge burden on defense budgets. 

It is recognized that 21st-century platforms must not only contain modern materials and modern systems but also must be compatible with modern condition-based maintenance (CBM) approaches to aircraft maintenance which monitor key structural and performance parameters. This makes it possible to leave aircraft in service, returning for maintenance only when the monitoring system triggers a specific maintenance action. 

These health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) play a crucial role for 21st-century fleet managers, freeing up maintenance time and keeping assets flying for many decades in an economically feasible manner.

This case study addresses a challenge developers of a recent light combat aircraft (LCA) faced, which included determining what data needed to be captured, how to scale from the laboratory to a fleet and making an operator-friendly (or ‘non-expert only’) system.

The case study shows how these challenges were met with a rapid prototyping system that was implemented with no recurring engineering costs thanks to an off-the-shelf modular system approach. This also resulted in time savings that allowed additional testing than originally planned. Future changes are also anticipated to have far fewer certification overheads as only part of the LRU will be altered.

Download the case study to learn more.

Data Acquisition Systems

For anything from data capture in the air to replay and analysis on the ground, partnering with the world's leading aerospace data acquisition provider simplifies your design and installation process. Our expertise reduces your risk of capturing useless data, having to repeat a flight, or compromising the integrity of a maintenance program and suffering the schedule and financial costs.

 

Reliable Data Acquisition Systems, Engineered to Succeed

We've used our decades of program experience providing full-system solutions to develop a comprehensive portfolio of rugged signal conditioning, data acquisition, data multiplexing, and PCM encoder systems for terrestrial and space environments. These deterministic systems provide mission-critical reliability and support for multiple industry standards, including Ethernet, TmNS, IRIG-106 Chapter 4, 8 and 10, DARV3, IENA, and iNET-X.

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