Researchers at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are testing new technologies it created for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that could give commercial and military maintenance programs earlier warning of problems. Condition-based maintenance, known as CBM, will get safer aircraft back in the air faster because it relies on repairing and replacing faulty parts in aircraft when they need to be fixed or replaced. Traditional military maintenance programs rely on time-scheduled maintenance.
The ARL’s work in this area supports the FAA on developing and validating CBM methodologies, and once matured, those methodologies would help the FAA certify the use of the Health and Usage Monitoring System, or HUMS, as part of commercial aircraft maintenance programs. ARL's customized technologies are being incorporated into the HUMS, which serves as a central repository for aircraft system information.
A number of ARL-developed sensor technologies are embedded in the HUMS. These sensors, many developed with the Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CERDEC) and the FAA, monitor and signal system faults.
Sensors placed on critical areas of the aircraft, like the tail rotor output shaft, measure performance. The information from the sensors is fed into HUMS system where maintenance crews can quickly review data and identify abnormal readings like vibrations much faster than done in the past.
CBM could also result in huge maintenance cost savings. If the system is fully implemented, the Army can save about $9.3 million per year in eliminating many maintenance test flights on the Apache, for example, on a direct reimbursable basis. For the UH-60 Blackhawk, it could amount to a savings of $2.6 million per year.
