A framework of software components has been implemented to facilitate the development of ISHM systems according to a methodology based on Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). This framework is collectively referred to as the Toolkit and was developed using General Atomics’ Health MAP™ technology.

The toolkit is intended to provide assistance to software developers of mission- critical system health monitoring applications in the specification, implementation, configuration, and deployment of such applications. In addition to software tools designed to facilitate these objectives, the toolkit also provides direction to software developers in accordance with an ISHM specification and development methodology. The development tools are based on an RCM approach for the development of ISHM systems. This approach focuses on defining, detecting, and predicting the likelihood of system functional failures and their undesirable consequences.

The toolkit provides users with an object-oriented environment in which to specify and program software application behavior that leverages modelbased reasoning specifically targeted for ISHM applications. Furthermore, the application has been designed to follow a recommended RCM-based ISHM system design methodology, providing guidance to the developer in building the overall capability of the ISHM system. The advantages of the ISHMToolkit include:

  1. guidance to ISHM system developers based on a proven methodology that strives to detect, diagnose, and predict those system failures that interfere with mission objectives;
  2. access to reusable class libraries and behaviors;
  3. the ability to leverage model-based reasoning;
  4. the incorporation of graphical programming capabilities;
  5. access to a central supervisory software layer that operates and correlates over aggregated information; and
  6. a layered ISHM architecture that conforms to Open System Architecture standards.

The toolkit is a software environment designed for leveraging reusable libraries developed by General Atomics that provide generic class definition, generic class behavior, and generic failure models. The toolkit also provides capability for building or extending such class libraries.

This work was done by Meera Venkatesh, Ravi Kapadia, Mark Walker, and Kim Wilkins of General Atomics for Stennis Space Center. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to:

General Atomics
3550 General Atomics Court
San Diego, CA 92121
Telephone No. (858) 676-7169

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