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Articles by this Author
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Are You Ready for EDDIE, the Embedded Diagnostic and IVHM Demonstrator?
The Embedded Diagnostic Demonstrator and IVHM Executive (EDDIE) emulates the operational functionality and failure mechanisms of a real fuel system. The emulation includes valve and state switching, fuel level and flow rate monitoring, and component redundancy.
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Early Functional Analysis and Allocation in the System Engineering Process
All credible Testability and Diagnostic Analysis must be based upon an appropriate level of early functional analysis and allocation as identified in a system engineering process. Failure analysis data may be used . . .
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COTS - The Jagged Little Pill
COTS components, more often than not, lack the necessary diagnostic hooks, yet the systems integrator is ultimately accountable for any support deficiencies...
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Putting Sensors in their Place
When does adding sensors harm the system that it's supposed to be helping? Proper placement of sensors is essential, and yet it often takes on a life of its own at the expense of good design practice.
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Diagnostic Optimization of Large-Scale Systems
As system size increases, so increases the challenge of optimizing. Typically, the turn-around time for assessing engineering changes starts to become prohibitive. Avoiding a long turn-around is essential to ensuring early optimization.
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Trade Studies, Risk Management, Simulation, Oh My!
The beehive of activity in complex programs is incredible. The interactions between engineering scenarios and business cases alone represent some of the most difficult to perform. Trade studies, in one form or another, trigger these interactions and create the need to fully understand their impacts and risks to the effort.
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Ten Tips for Developing and Using Avionics Test Sets
Test and Measurement World, January 1, 2003.This article helps identify the gap and resulting need, for supporting A.T.E. testing solutions with a sound diagnostic approach.
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IVHM Design Using eXpress
The design of Integrated Vehicle Health Management has certainly received an increasing amount of attention, yet there are only a few elements that make it different than any other type of on-board diagnostic system. Ensuring that your approach is well-defined makes all the difference in achieving a successful implementation. Find out how eXpress plays into this equation.
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DSI congratulates Boeing on its receipt of one of this year's Baldrige Awards
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is annually presented by the President of the United States to organizations for achievements in quality and performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge. It is the highest recognition of quality excellence that a company can achieve.
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Cost Savings by Using a Tool that Supports Hybrid Modeling
eXpress is good at supporting the entire life cycle development, and is the only tool that takes a system level, multi-design discipline perspective to iteratively drive a design through the entire development cycle.
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Full Systems Diagnostics Design and Support Integration
DSI is currently developing simulation technology that can represent full operational scenarios, resolved into individual mission phases. The simulation can accurately predict expected time to first failure, the number of unique and total failures over a given period, the probability of a fault resulting in a loss of mission, loss of vehicle, or loss of crew, and other predictions that can be easily added using a built-in scripting language.
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Inter-Agency IVHM TIM Held in Huntsville
Through the conmbined efforts of NASA MSFC and DSI, the first TIM of Integrated Vehicle Health Management convened at NASA Marshall on July 23, 2003. This event was of historical proportions because it was the first TIM in which the participants openly discussed the principles and application of diagnostics, prognostics and the implementation of IVHM; and this same conference table was also utilized by Werner Von Braun during the planning of the United States' entry into the Space Age.
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New Documentation: Quick Start Guide and Online Help
With all the capabilities currently found in the eXpress tool, learning how to access and use these features could sometimes be a challenge. To help the user become more efficient in the shortest possible time, we at DSI have developed a Quick Start Guide.
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DSI's New Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Import Mode
Integrating your testability environment with the design-engineering environment allows for vital information to be exchanged, at a time in the development process when concurrent engineering has far reaching benefits. However, realizing a link between these two environments presents challenges that can often exceed most of the potential benefits.
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Optimizing Test Strategies with eXpress
The optimization of test stragies is a frequent, yet challenging, problem faced by Testability engineers. eXpress provides an elegant solution to the problem through several optimization capabilities.
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A Design Environment for Legacy Test Strategies
Unexpected costs due to reengineering fielded strategies can be largely avoided through establishing a robust design environment. Understanding where the pitfalls like, along with what benefits can be realized are keys to a successful effort.
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From Diagnostics to Prognostics with eXpress
How can a diagnostic approach become a prognostic approach? How can eXpress provide the necessary trade-off capabilities in support of the effort? A solution to these questions is provided, along with some discussion on prognostics in general.
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Is there Life for Prognostics after SBIRs?
Will Prognostics extend into mainstream use and gain support beyond SBIR funding?
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A Prognostics Sensor Victory on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
The JSF Prognostics team has once again won a small victory for aircraft sensors, this time by proving there will be a huge maintenance cost-savings, rather than any impact on safety.
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Pervasive Prognostics Computing
Prognostics will ultimately require both the existing and emerging technologies behind pervasive computing in order to satisfy its own computing needs. More surprising, though, is the degree to which developments in both prognostics and pervasive computing are mutually beneficial.
This past January was not only the beginning of a new semester at Alabama A&M. it also marked the first time that DSI officially held a certified Systems Diagnostics and eXpress training course in a University campus laboratory.
Under the sponsorship of Alabama A&M University and Dr. Andrew Scott, (also attended by Dr. Alvernon Walker of North Carolina A&T), DSI International conducted the first three Systems Diagnostic courses using the University's eXpress Software. DSI instructors, Mr. Jim Lauffer and Mr. Eric
Gould, successfully presented detailed information and examples using eXpress as a Systems engineering process and Diagnostic development / Prognostic data gathering tool.
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Selecting a Systems Diagnostic Engineering Tool
When tasked with selecting a Systems Diagnostic Engineering Tool, one important consideration is the reduction of the business risk associated with using that tool—something that can only be assessed if one understands not only the various calculations performed by the tool, but also the more basic question of how well the tool meets the overall needs of the systems engineering process. As alternative and/or complimentary tools are identified, the analyst must consider how the strengths of each tool might be leveraged without compromising the primary objectives of the systems diagnostic design.
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Boundary Scan modeling in eXpress
There are numerous ways in which Boundary Scan technology can be modeled in the eXpress Testability Analysis software tool. The technique described here makes use of a number of power features incorporated into the latest eXpress software to provide a fast, effective and adaptable means of modeling Boundary Scan technology, and can be easily incorporated into either new or existing model designs.
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Real-Time Fault Isolation Reasoning Impact Technologies’ ReasonPro Integrated with DSI’s eXpress
DSI International (DSI) and Impact Technologies (Impact) have teamed to provide a total systems solution for Prognostics Health Management (PHM). The integration of Diagnostics and Prognostics technology brings the solution together to meet the needs of the advanced PHM Programs. Understanding the requirements and providing a high confidence solution are key to the total program’s integration needs.
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Independent Systems Engineering vs. Programmatic Systems Engineering
The awarding of DoD Programs has continued to evolve over the recent decades toward a culture that exploits the concept of “Teaming” on the development of complex products or systems for many major programs. This concept appears to allow contractors to leverage each Team member’s particular strengths in their respective areas of expertise into a unified partnering environment. To facilitate this objective, the partnering environment must agree upon a mutual acceptable means and mechanism to integrate these individual products together into the developing of a superior end-product.
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When Money Not Spent is Money Not Saved
Although eXpress analyses can be used to assess the diagnostic capability of a fixed system design, eXpress really comes into its own when the results are used to improve a design’s diagnostic capability. Unlike spreadsheet-based approaches, eXpress has been specifically designed to facilitate both early and iterative analysis; in fact, it can be effectively employed throughout the product development cycle, beginning in the earliest phases of system design. The value of this early design feedback cannot be over-estimated.
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Design for Testability - Origin and Evolution
The concept of Design for Testability was originally pioneered by Ralph De Paul, Jr. in the mid 1960’s based on diagnostic ideas that he had first conceived during the 1950’s.
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ROI on PHM...Is it Realistic?
Many in industry are beginning to admit that calculating Return on Investment (ROI) for PHM (Prognostics Health Management) is not as straight forward as some may suggest.
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“PhM Disturbia”
Technical and economic accountability and responsibility for PHM (Prognostic Health Management) at the Integrated Systems level has yet to be the primary concern for DoD funded PHM activities. Apparently, the appeal of exotic new technologies, specifically, PHM, has blurred the vision away from this Integrated System’s attachment to the real world. Instead, we are blissfully distracted with the hope and luster of escaping into the promise of brilliance at the lowest levels of design at any expense.
STAGE is a turn-key engineering solution for System Health Management and Support, providing simulation-based assessments of the combined effects of different approaches to Design, Test, Diagnostics, Prognostics, Maintenance and Support. No other tool provides comparable support for diagnostic engineering trade studies.
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