As pressure increases for system autonomy, so does the need for good, cost-effective fault management (FM). FM engineers and project engineers need assistance in building effective FM that is specified completely enough to make costs more predictable during testing and verification phases. The detailed data model at the core of the Fault Management Assistant (FMA) should help to achieve this goal by encouraging more complete FM descriptions from engineers. Developers need assistance in selecting cost effective FM options for each failure. The data model combined with specialized views should provide that assistance. Finally, they need assistance in prioritizing failures to guide FM resource allocation. The detailed data model coupled with specialized views should help with this goal as well. Consequently, this tool should provide valuable assistance to a large number of NASA projects.
The number of non-NASA applications that could benefit from the Fault Management Assistant is almost limitless. Nearly everyone deals with faults and failures and could use assistance in thinking clearly about these issues and managing them effectively and efficiently. Initially, SKA intends to focus on FM objects (system functions, faults, failures, response options, etc.) and the relationships among them. This is where we expect to gain the greatest advantage to a large number of potential customers. Later, SKA intends to explore the direct export and import of data between the Fault Management Assistant and other system engineering tools. Finally, SKA will explore ways to support effective interaction among large numbers of engineers, a capability that can be valuable for very large projects. Everyone who builds complex systems should benefit from using this tool. This includes all branches of the military plus private industries like aeronautics and automotive industries.
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