An Overview of the State of the Art in Aircraft Prognostic and Health Management Strategies

Aircraft are complex engineering systems composed of many interconnected subsystems with possible uncertainties in their structure. They often function for a long number of flight hours under varying or harsh environments. Hence, prognostic and health management (PHM) of critical subsystems or components within the overall system is crucial for maintaining the safety and reliability of the aircraft. This article reviews the state of the art in aircraft failure prognostic. The main definitions and concepts are presented and discussed. In addition, a selected important failure in the representative aircraft components is outlined, and various categories of prognostic strategies are reviewed. Finally, some recommendations and directions for the most promising research to address the PHM problem in aircraft are outlined.