SBIR-STTR Award

Sporian has previously developed and successfully demonstrated a unified, integrated system to support Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) objectives. The system acquires available CBM oriented data present on an aircraft, stores it, analyzes it on-aircraft using prognostic algorithms, and forwards data to ground systems when the aircraft returns so that further fleet-wide prognostic analyses can be performed. This system, referred to as the Flexible Integrated Intelligent Prognostic System (FIIPS) for Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) will contribute to overall CBM+ and sustainment improvement efforts. The FIIPS for CBM+ is a software-focused system that can be deployed on small, lightweight stand-alone hardware, integrated into existing avionics boxes such as a HUMS, or hosted as a virtual system on existing aircraft computers with suitable computing resources. The FIIPS for CBM+ system is designed to produce data that supports diagnostic activities (troubleshooting) as well as prognostic maintenance. This system has been developed with US Army funding with the Future Vertical Lift family of rotorcraft in mind, and is well positioned to be leveraged to provide similar sustainment-improving capabilities for US Air Force aircraft, allowing the USAF to benefit from greater than $1 million in previous research and development costs. The USAF Phase I transitioning effort will focus on: identifying USAF aircraft platforms that can benefit from use of the technology and working with strategic partners to define TRL- and MRL-elevating technical activities that will be a focus of Phase II activities.

Sporian has previously developed and successfully demonstrated a Flexible Integrated Intelligent Prognostic System (FIIPS) to support Prognostic Health Management and Condition Based Maintenance activities on US Army rotorcraft. The system autonomously collects, stores, and analyzes existing digital data available on aircraft data buses. The system shares analysis results with maintainers, logisticians, commanders, engineers, and supply-chain personnel to provide actionable data. The system also shares raw data and analysis results with other nodes in the system for further analysis of like-systems. Sporian proposes to adapt this existing technology to monitor high-value, complex manufacturing machines such as five-axis horizontal and vertical machining centers for component health and indications of physical- and cyber-threats. Sporian has identified an initial Air Force customer (Air Force Sustainment Center) and end-user (Warner Robins Logistics Complex 402d CMXG). The customer and end-user are motivated to support the proposed effort. The proposed effort will include identification of a set of machines for Phase II trials, defining requirements for the system for manufacturing machine monitoring applications, development of monitoring hardware, firmware, and software that is based on or heavily leverages the rotorcraft design, installation of the systems on representative machines for data collection, and development and deployment of both physics- and data-based monitoring and prognostic algorithms. The overall objective of the effort is to develop a high value manufacturing machine prognostic or CBM+ system that provides economic benefits to end users.