A framework for integration of IVHM technologies for intelligent integration for vehicle management

As a part of the overall goal of developing Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) systems for aerospace vehicles, the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) at Marshall Space Flight Center has performed a pilot study on IVHM principles which integrates researched IVHM technologies in support of integrated intelligent vehicle management (IIVM). IVHM is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and ground systems. The framework presented in this paper integrates advanced computational techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of IIVM. These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the affected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, the objective of this pilot program is to develop and integrate technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear that IIVM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission objectives. These systems include the following: guidance and navigation; communications and tracking; vehicle monitoring; information transport and integration; vehicle diagnostics; vehicle prognostics; vehicle mission planning; automated repair and replacement; vehicle control; human computer interface; and onboard verification and validation. Furthermore, the presented framework provides complete vehicle management which not only allows for increased crew safety and mission success through new intelligence capabilities, but also yields a mechanism for more efficient vehicle operations. The representative IVHM technologies for IIVM includes: 1) enhanced communications and telemetry, 2) sensors for radiation materials, 3) vehicle controls and dynamics, 4) flight mechanics and control, 4) embedded sensors for structural integrity of tanking systems, 5) evolutionary concepts for embedded sensor placement in tank systems, 6) real time operating systems, and 7) computer architectures for distributed processing for IVHM. This paper presents the IIVM framework and the IVHM technologies developed under NASA's NFFP pilot project