Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) is an essential capability that will be
required to enable upcoming explorations mission systems such as the Crew Exploration
Vehicle (CEV) and Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), as well as NASA aeronautics missions.
ISHM technologies will improve the reliability and availability of complex systems,
reduce the amount of manpower required to prepare vehicles for both aeronautical and
space flight, and reduce the number of induced failures caused by intrusive inspections.
NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have
developed strong competencies in ISHM, particularly in the areas of data fusion, data
analysis, monitoring, and diagnosis; however, the lack of flight experience and available
test platforms have held back the infusion of these technologies into future space and
aeronautical missions.
To address this problem, a pioneer project was conceived to use a high-performance
aircraft as a low-cost proxy to develop, mature, and verify the effectiveness of candidate
ISHM technologies. Given the similarities between spacecraft and aircraft, an F/A-18
currently stationed at Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) was chosen as a suitable
host platform for the test bed. Given the availability of the aircraft, this test bed allows
ISHM technologies to be developed more economically and mature more quickly.
This report describes how the test bed was conceived, how the technologies were
integrated on to the aircraft, and how these technologies were matured during the project.
It also provides the reader with a description of the lessons learned during the project and
a forward path for the continuation of this important work.