The third level of the system is a terminal collection unit (TCU). The TCU provides the means to autonomously retrieve vehicle analysis results from all the CCUs or RDAUs of all vehicles. The TCU analyzes all results collected from all vehicles to identify any fleet-wide anomalies (e.g., all aircraft have the same faulty bearing at a similar location). The TCU is used to develop the final summary of the vehicle health. The summary is routed to the appropriate users (e.g., maintenance workers and airline operations personnel).

The system can also serve as an infrastructure for performing tributary analyses: NASA Langley Research Center has developed a parameterized fuzzy expert system algorithm that can be trained to a user’s subjective analysis of data. The expert-system algorithm and other analysis algorithms can be used at each operational level. The measurements collected at the lowest level can be analyzed at that level. Analysis results are forwarded to next operational level, and then all results are analyzed to ascertain global trends or anomalies for the prior level. This is repeated until all analyses are combined at the hierarchically highest level (e.g., the third level).

The trainable parameterized fuzzy expert system, the wireless communication between components, and the programmable digital interface make the health-monitoring hardware and software infrastructure adaptable to many vehicles and structures. Performing analysis at each level eliminates the need for transmitting and storing large volumes of collected measurements.

The RDAU hardware and the non-analytical portion of the software of the system have been flight-tested on the landing gear of Langley Research Center’s Boeing 757 airplane (see Figure 2) — the most severe location on that airplane for mounting a health-monitoring device. During test flights, the CCU was located in the passenger section of the airplane. A portable TCU equipped with the non-analytical capabilities of the TCU was shown to function as intended in downloading of data after flights.

This work was done by Stanley E. Woodart, Keith L. Woodman, and Neil C. Coffey of Langley Research Center and Bryant D. Taylor of Swales Corp. For further information, access the Technical Support Package (TSP) free on-line at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Electronics/Computers category.

This invention is owned by NASA, and a patent application has been filed. Inquiries concerning nonexclusive or exclusive license for its commercial development should be addressed to the Patent Counsel, Langley Research Center, at (757) 864-3521. Refer to LAR-16516.

This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).

Adaptable System for Vehicle Health and Usage Monitoring (reference LAR-16516) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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