Helicopter transmission health monitoring using real-time neural computing methods

A real-time helicopter transmission health monitor is being developed and evaluated at the NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with the U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate. This system uses non-real-time neural computing techniques to first learn the vibration signatures of faulty gearbox modes. Real-time capability is then achieved by faithful replication of the neural network processing model in an air-worthy integrated electronics architecture. The latter is based upon seminal work done at Draper Laboratory on INCA (Integrated Neural Computing Architecture). Prior work done by a number of organizations has substantiated the utility of neural computation for this kind of application in static laboratory environments. The present effort extends that basic research into dynamic flight by use of the FLITE (Flying Laboratory for Integrated Test and Evaluation) vehicle, which is an instrumented Cobra helicopter located at Moffett Field, CA