Health and Usage Monitoring (HUMS) for Land and Marine Applications

On military vehicles, Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) offer the basis for accurate and timely information about the condition of the vehicle and the way it is being used. Dytecna is also broadening its application within defence to other land based mobile platforms and marine applications, and more widely into other sectors such as rail.

HUMS information can lead to a number of operational benefits that include:

• Higher vehicle and systems reliability and availability
• Reduced aborted or incomplete missions
• Improved system performance consistency
• Predictable maintenance free operational periods
• Improved crew and support safety
• Lower through-life maintenance costs
• Reduced logistics footprint
• Lower warranty costs
• Improved and more competitive vehicle designs

HUMS provides information that is of benefit to users both on the vehicle and at various levels of support off the vehicle.

On the vehicle, the system can:

• Monitor key operational parameters and resources
• Log usage and event data
• Record the main vehicle asset identities
• Provide the crew with improved system
• Warn the crew of a degrading system
• Provide failure warning
• Provide diagnostics and failure identification

Off the vehicle the system provides:

• Storage of historic data
• Detailed failure diagnostics
• Trend and predictive analysis
• Vehicle and fleet availability analysis
• Vehicle and fleet usage analysis
• Maintenance scheduling and recording
• Mission success prediction analysis

Example Implementation - Panther

Dytecna's HUMS has been chosen for use on PANTHER (CLV) and is based on the installation of a single Vehicle Monitoring Unit (VMU) connected to the main vehicle subsystems and a driver's display.

PANTHER is based on a COTS vehicle. Interfacing to the automotive data is via the automotive ECUs and a J1939 bus. This interface provides the real-time parameters as well as the J1939 events and failure warnings.

VMU interfaces to other vehicle sub-systems using CAN Bus (MilCAN) and serial communications. Operational parameters and failure conditions are communicated to the driver via the driver's display.

The HUMS logs automotive parameters, health and failure modes of the various subsystems, battery health, and terrain severity as well as ambient conditions. Data processing and reduction includes histograms of parameters such as time in each gear; mean, maximum and minimum values over time for the main parameters (typically over a five or ten minute period, but this is configurable); and event data which include excursions, alarms and BIT failures.

The data can be downloaded to any PC or Laptop via the CAN Bus. Alternatively, wireless telemetry or GPRS data download can be provided.

Dytecna's HUMS has been designed to be a modular flexible architecture from the beginning and it can form the basis of HUMS for both simple legacy vehicles and complex system designs.

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