Systematic Design Methodology for Prognostic and Health Management Systems to Support Aircraft Predictive Maintenance

Abstract

With the rapid development in the past century, the air transport network has become one of the most important infrastructure networks for both the domestic and global economy. Within an airline, the maintenance area is responsible for planning and executing all preventive actions required to meet safety standards including maintenance tasks, etc. for each aircraft, demanding skilled jobs, e.g., aircraft mechanics, avionics systems experts, electricians, cabin experts. Aircraft maintenance concerns the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), inspection or modification to retain an aircraft and its aircraft systems, components and structures in an airworthy condition. A variety of strategies are available to guide determination, planning, and execution of appropriate maintenance actions for given capital assets. These include Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM), where the detection of an abnormal condition directly triggers a maintenance task, and predictive maintenance, where the optimal maintenance interval is predicted based on condition, time, usage or loads.