Systems engineering approach to integrated diagnostics requirements

Establishing comprehensive requirements for integrated diagnostics both onboard and off-board the aircraft is vital to providing a supportable weapon system. Each user group takes advantage of integrated diagnostics to fulfill their roles and responsibilities. Aircrew utilize Built-In-Test (BIT) to monitor the health of the aircraft for mission accomplishment; maintainers interpret diagnostic indications to service and repair the aircraft; and engineers examine the diagnostics information to conduct root cause analysis and perform engineering investigations of various failure modes. Standardizing health and usage data across aircraft platforms allows common tools to process the data for each group's needs eliminating stovepipe systems for each aircraft type.