Prognostic & Health Management (PHM) Technologies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)Optimized PHM System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Navy SBIR FY2010.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2010.1 Topic No.: N101-006 Topic Title: Prognostic & Health Management (PHM) Technologies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)Optimized PHM System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Proposal No.: N101-006-1460 Firm: Sentient Corporation 850 Energy Drive Suite 307 Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401 Contact: Kevin Line Phone: (615) 838-9217 Web Site: www.sentientscience.com Abstract: Sentient will adapt its existing prognostics and health management software and architecture, called SAGE, to Navy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). SAGE is particularly well-suited for UAVs because it already incorporates a centralized architecture, where data storage, signal processing, data management and visualization, higher level reasoning, prognostics, and maintenance and logistics coordination are all performed at a central ground control station. This centralized architecture minimizes on-board data storage and processing, and thus greatly reduces the amount of required on-board hardware. Substantial diagnostic coverage will be achieved through a network of existing UAV sensors. This suite of existing UAV sensors will be augmented as necessary with other diagnostic sensors. Through incorporating our other proprietary signal processing technology called "VSP" we will identify faults earlier than possible with other methods. Our physics of failure algorithms will be applied to provide long time-horizon prediction of component reliability. Long time-horizon predictions are required for UAVs because they typically have mission lengths 5-10 times longer than those of manned aircraft. Benefits: The result of this effort will be a full prognostics and health management system for unmanned aerial vehicles. The primary benefit of this system is increased UAV reliability, provided through up-to-date health assessments and advanced warnings of impending problems. The increased reliability, in turn, provides increased availability, affordability, and mission success. Potential commercial applications include UAVs intended for border patrol, law enforcement, and land and atmospheric surveys. And since the proposed health management system is very general and flexible, additional commercial applications include most other machinery suited for condition-based maintenance, such as industrial machinery, power generation equipment, and commercial aircraft. Return