ABSTRACT
Prognostics and health management (PHM) is an emerging discipline consisting of technologies and methods to assess the reliability of a product in its actual life cycle conditions to determine the advent of failure and mitigate system risk [1]. PHM generally combines sensing and interpretation of environmental, operational and performance-related parameters to assess the health of a product and predict its remaining useful life [1–3]. The benefits of conducting PHM for a product include (1) providing advance warning of failures; (2) minimizing unscheduled maintenance, extending maintenance cycles and maintaining effectiveness through timely repair actions; (3) reducing the life cycle cost of equipment by decreasing inspection costs, downtime and inventory; and (4) improving qualification and assisting in the design and logistical support of fielded and future systems [1,2].
