Architecture for a Light Helicopter HUMS

Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) have been shown to reduce maintenance cost while increasing availability, improving operational reliability, and enhancing safety. HUMS has been mandated in the United Kingdom on large civil transport helicopter, it was introduced as standard equipment on the Sikorsky S-92® aircraft, it is fitted on the Army's fleet of BLACKHAWK and Apache helicopters, as well as a significant number of Navy helicopters. Despite this success, HUMS is not standard equipment on lighter helicopters and has been largely ignored as a viable retrofit option. It is commonly understood that widespread adoption of HUMS has been hampered by the incremental weight and cost of the systems. The vast majority of light helicopter owners cannot overcome the entry level weight and cost issues to take advantage of the operational and enhanced safety benefits. This paper explores a HUMS architecture that addresses the barriers to the introduction of HUMS in lighter helicopters, specifically: the reduction in hardware and installation time, the reduction in weight, and the reduction in the level of technical support (e.g. the cost of implementing a HUMS, such as threshold setting, information technology infrastructure, training) while maintaining the vast majority of HUMS functions that are currently available in current HUMS equipped fleets.