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MICRONANOSYSTEMS
Stay in control of your health
The
miniaturised
health & usage
monitoring
H
ealth and usage monitoring
systems (HUMS) [also known as
condition based monitoring
systems
(CBM)] has enormous potential for improving the
(MicroHUMS)
safety, reliability and security of a wide range of
structures and systems if the units can be
service cluster
miniaturised. Microsystems technology offers this
offers a wide
potential. A number of European organisations,
including the University of Oulu in Finland,
range of
Lancaster and Heriot Watt universities in the UK,
services. ISLI
and the Budapest University of Technology and
Economics, have joined forces to deliver advanced
explains the
technology development services and solutions to
range and
the global industrial base. All of these partners
already have a track record in delivery to industry,
applications.
which is complemented by the technology transfer
expertise of the Institute for System Level Figure 1 Wireless sensor mesh networking
Integration (ISLI) based in the UK and the platform developed at iSLI
experience of Ultra BCF in the delivery of HUMS
solutions to the aerospace sector.
This service cluster forms a strong alliance are inherently difficult to inspect.
offering a wide range of services including: Systems currently reliant on subjective inspection
xrhombus Feasibility studies on embedded HUMS methods can benefit from predictive prognostics
solutions systems. systems based on data gathering with HUMS.
xrhombus Access to databases and consultancy on Current contracts held by the service cluster are
manufacturing methods. focussed on, but not limited to these topics:
xrhombus Design services for HUMS sensors. xrhombus Wireless data gathering and remote access
xrhombus A library of MEMS self test functions for xrhombus Integrated sensors for health monitoring
bespoke HUMS xrhombus Direct electrical test
xrhombus Prototyping facilities xrhombus New ultrasonic applications
xrhombus Reliability engineering for HUMS functions
Health and usage monitoring systems are forecast
to impact a number of sectors[1], including civil Wireless Data Gathering
engineering, construction, energy, transportation Of interest for the service cluster are issues
and aeronautics which require critical failure involved in creating low-cost and low-power
identification and maintenance of systems which wireless mesh sensor networks. An active project
that aims to address these issues consists of:
xrhombus Design and manufacture of hardware with
sensors and a wireless transceiver.
xrhombus Creation of a network simulation to test the
network protocols and routing algorithms.
xrhombus A network on the hardware to investigate
resource needs for individual nodes.
Initial evaluation identified network architectural
optimisations to be exploited in future projects
including those involving the aerospace sector.
Based on the results obtained, members of the
cluster now provide support to the ‘WiTNESSS’
project, a major UK aerospace consortium, which
aims to deliver technology to enable high integrity
Figure 2 Embedded BGA solder joint prognostics in the REMTEST device wireless links in the extremely harsh RF and
www.micronanosystems.info December 2008 / January 2009
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