Failure analysis system

• US 9,540,117 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2014
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Mumaw, Randall J., Nicholson, Roger, Fucke, Lars
• Primary Examiner(s): Sweeney, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US14/490,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20150344149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33.4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45071 Aircraft, airplane, ship cleaning manipulator, paint stripping
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0251 Abstraction hierarchy, e.g. "complex systems", i.e. system is divided in subsystems, subsystems are monitored and results are combined to decide on status of whole system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/027 Alarm generation, e.g. communication protocol; Forms of alarm
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B

Abstract

A failure analysis system for monitoring sub-system failures in an aircraft that comprises a plurality of sub-systems, the aircraft having a plurality of functions, wherein each function is available when one or more associated sub-systems is operating correctly. The failure analysis system comprising: a plurality of monitors for monitoring the status of one or more sub-systems of the aircraft and determining if a failure has occurred; a memory arranged to store a list of a plurality of flight phases or operating modes to be completed by the monitored system and data associating one or more of the functions with each flight phase or operating mode; and a processor in communication with the monitors and the memory and arranged to model the response of the sub-systems to a failure determined by the monitors to identify which functions required by the flight phases or operating modes are degraded or are not available.

Claims

1. A failure analysis system for monitoring sub-system failures in an aircraft, the system comprising:

a plurality of monitors to monitor status of at least one sub-system of the aircraft, and to determine if a failure of at least one of the at least one sub-system has occurred;

a memory to store a list of a plurality of flight phases or operating modes to be completed by the at least one sub-system and to store data associating at least one function, which is associated with at least one of the at least one sub-system, with each of the flight phases or the operating modes; and

a processor to communicate with the plurality of monitors and the memory, and to model a response of at least one of the at least one sub-system to a failure determined by the monitors to identify which of the at least one function required by the flight phases or the operating modes is degraded or is not available,

wherein when a plurality of the at least one function is not available, a human-computer interface produces an alert indicating that at least one of the at least one function associated with a next flight phase or operating mode is degraded or is not available.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the list of the plurality of flight phases or the operating modes is an ordered list representing a mission plan.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the aircraft comprises at least one un-monitored sub-system, which is not monitored by the plurality of monitors;

and

the processor is further to model a response of at least one of the at least one un-monitored sub-system to a failure determined by the monitors of at least one of the at least one sub-system to identify which of the at least one function is not available.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the system further comprises the human-computer interface to indicate that at least one of the at least one function is not available or is degraded.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the human-computer interface is to display a list of alerts ordered in dependence upon an order of the flight phases or the operating modes stored in the memory.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the memory is further to store for each of the flight phases or the operating modes a priority level for at least one of the at least one function associated with the flight phase or the operating mode;

and

wherein when more than one of the at least one function is degraded or is not available, the human-computer interface produces an alert indicating the at least one function that is degraded or not available having a highest priority level and indicating the associated next flight phase or operating mode for which the at least one function is not available.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the human-computer interface is further to alert a user of an action to take when at least one of the at least one function is unavailable.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory is further to store an order in which the plurality of the flight phases or the operating modes are to be carried out;

wherein the processor is further to determine when more than one of the at least one function associated with at least one of the flight phases or the operating modes is not available; and

wherein when more than one of the at least one function is unavailable, the human-computer interface is to produce an alert indicating an action to take in relation to a next task for which the at least one function is unavailable.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory is further to store an order of importance of the plurality of flight phases or the operating modes;

and

wherein the processor is to determine when more than one of the flight phases or the operating modes cannot be carried out; and

wherein when more than one of the at least one function associated with at least one of the flight phases or the operating modes is degraded or is not available, the human-computer interface is to produce an alert indicating an action to take in relation to the at least one function that is degraded or unavailable having the highest associated priority level for the next flight phase or the next operating mode for which the at least one function is unavailable.

10. A failure analysis method for monitoring sub-system failures in an aircraft, the method comprising:

storing a list of a plurality of flight phases or operating modes to be completed by the aircraft and storing data associating at least one function with each of the flight phases or the operating modes;

monitoring, by a plurality of monitors, at least one sub-system of the aircraft,

wherein the at least one function is associated with at least one of the at least one sub-system;

determining a failure of at least one of the at least one sub-system;

modelling a response to at least one of the at least one sub-system to the failure;

identifying which of the at least one function is not available or is degraded;

determining whether at least one of the at least one function associated with each of the plurality of flight phases or the operating modes is degraded or not available; and

issuing an alert based on at least one of the at least one function that is not available or is degraded.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the list of the plurality of flight phases or the operating modes is an ordered list representing a mission plan.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying a next flight phase or operating mode in the ordered list for which at least one of the at least one function is not available or is degraded.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises issuing a list of alerts based on an order of the flight phases or the operating modes in the ordered list.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises identifying at least one action to be taken in relation to at least one of the at least one function that is degraded or not available, wherein the alert is accompanied by an indication of the at least one action that is identified.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises identifying at least one action to be taken in relation to at least one of the at least one function that is degraded or not available, wherein each of the alerts in the list is accompanied by an indication of the at least one action that is identified.

16. The method of any one of claim 15, wherein the aircraft comprises at least one un-monitored sub-system that is not monitored by the plurality of monitors, and

wherein the method further comprises modelling a response of at least one of the at least one un-monitored sub-system to a failure of at least one of the at least one sub-system determined by the monitors.