ISHM & Design: A review of the benefits of the ideal ISHM system

This paper summarizes the results of the Integrated Systems Health Management Design Study, performed by Consensus Technology, LLC for the Wright Brothers Institute, Inc., under contract with The Air Force Research Labs (CPO 9012). To define the overall scope and key research areas of a possible cross technical directorate effort in Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM), a team of health management experts from the Air Force, industry and academia was assembled to explore the design related benefits of ISHM. This team defined a set of scenarios made possible by the ideal ISHM system. These scenarios and the technologies associated with them were evaluated for their system impact, design impact, innovativeness and timeliness. The scenarios were grouped into four benefit categories and the technology needs associated with the scenarios defined. The result is a prioritized set of technology development needs linked to specific benefits and scenarios. The benefits of the ideal ISHM system were quantified from a cost and capability perspective based on the specific scenarios and data provided by the participants. The collected benefits provide a compelling rationale for pursuing the development of fully integrated ISHM design capability and the technology development defined in the study. Finally, the study developed a proposal for specific next steps, connecting the individual technology development needs with an overarching program direction and set of midterm demonstrations to support that development.