Vehicle Health Management Solutions

Advancements in the capabilities of sensors, embedded processors and software have enhanced the performance and reliability of today’s most sophisticated aircraft, spacecraft and land vehicles. Despite their complexity, many of today’s most advanced platforms are easier to maintain, repair and support, thanks to the benefits of Vehicle Health Management (VHM) technologies.

Vehicle Health Management is the term used to describe a range of technologies that help manage the overall health and performance of a vehicle, subsystem or component. Today’s most capable VHM systems go well beyond simply monitoring performance characteristics. They are able to:

Effectively diagnose problems with the vehicle, subsystem or component.

Use prognostic algorithms to anticipate problems, predict breakdowns and     project when scheduled and unscheduled maintenance will be needed.

Isolate and identify problems for operators and support crews.

Aggregate information from multiple sources to enable knowledge management.

VHM is already improving the efficiency and safety of both individual aircraft and other vehicles, and the environment in which they operate. With VHM, pilots and operators have access to real-time information about the performance and health of their vehicles. Logistics teams can do a better job of planning and anticipating the need for spare parts and other support resources. And when a failure does occur, maintenance crews have the data they need to get to the root cause of the problem, rather than spending their time checking and rechecking components that are performing properly.

Honeywell is a leader in VHM technologies, with experience in the commercial, military and industrial sectors. Current efforts include prognostics and trend monitoring on Honeywell engines and auxiliary power units, vehicle health management and unit logistics decision support for the Army’s Future Combat System, Space Station health management, and airline maintenance and operations support systems.