A PHM Roadmap for Electronics-Rich Systems

Prognostics and health management (PHM) is an enabling technology with the potential to solve complex reliability problems that have manifested due to complexity in design, manufacturing, test, and maintenance. This chapter provides an assessment of the state of practice and state of the art in PHM, focused mostly on electronics, and identify the key research and development (R&D) opportunities and challenges that exist, so that resources can be efficiently allocated. In assessing the state of the art and trends for the development of a roadmap for PHM, differences between PHM for electronics and PHM for mechanical structures must be recognized. The foundations of electronic systems are the integrated circuits (ICs) that comprise the computing, processing, memory, and communications. Photo‐electronic components that could greatly benefit from PHM include light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, radar, infra‐red devices, and tactical sensors. Health monitoring and identifying a baseline usage condition to evaluate system health are fundamental for prognostics.