Benefits analysis of prognostics in systems

Prognostics and health management (PHM) is a methodology that permits the reliability of a system to be evaluated in its actual life cycle conditions in order to predict when and where failures will occur and to mitigate system risks. In this paper we discuss the benefits of prognostics in systems. These benefits relate to system design and development, reliability, safety, maintainability, logistics and life cycle costs. We also discuss challenges that may be met in the application of prognostics from the viewpoint of both PHM system designers and users. These challenges include selecting applicable prognostics methods, addressing inherent uncertainties, assessing prognostic accuracy, and assisting decision making with consideration of cost-benefits.