Automated test system to help DoD lower $2 billion intermittent-fault issue
NewsDecember 18, 2018
BETHESDA, Md. and ROY, Utah. Lockheed Martin and Universal Synaptics Corp. recently signed an agreement to help the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) tackle an issue known as intermittent fault anomaly, an occurrence that currently drives an estimated $2 billion in annual DoD maintenance costs.
A new automated testing technology developed by Universal Synaptics, called intermittent fault detection, is able to uncover random fault anomalies in multidomain platform electronics as well as wiring harnesses. The Universal Synaptics system increases platform mission-capable rates by eliminating unnecessary follow-on maintenance and proactively addressing emerging issues by isolating each intermittent fault and giving easy-to-follow maintenance actions for the maintainer to return the unit back into service.
In addition to improving mission uptimes, eliminating intermittent failures will dramatically reduce sustainment costs by keeping platforms operating and decreasing repairs and supply support.
“This new capability is groundbreaking, and we’re tremendously excited to help the DoD address a challenge costing them billions,” said Laura Frank, vice president of Lockheed Martin Enterprise Sustainment Solutions. “Resolving intermittence in electronics is a discriminator for the DoD in achieving an 80 percent mission-capable rate across platforms.”
