Description

Recently tradespace analysis and exploration (TSE) has emerged as an important focus area within the Department of Defense (DoD) Engineered Resilient System (ERS) initiative, which draws upon engineering concepts, science, and design tools to produce trusted and effective solutions for a wide range of operational contexts. Most of the previous research on tradespace analysis, including those developed for rotorcraft, emphasize performance. However, non-functional requirements such as reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) have received minimal consideration, despite their direct influence on program level concerns such as operation and support (O&S) as well as affordability.

The objective of this research is to enrich existing tradespace exploration methodologies and tools by developing mathematical models to quantify the impact of reliability, availability, and maintainability and logistics on life cycle cost (LCC) that drive affordability.

An Open Source Tool for Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration Incorporating Reliability Engineering (TsERE)

Tradespace Exploration incorporating Reliability Engineering (TsERE) is an open source tool developed using the Python programming language, which incorporates our previous research on Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration to incorporate reliability engineering into tradespace analysis. The open source tool presents a simple graphical user interface to allow the user to make quantitative assessment of optimal subsystem investment to achieve desired level of availability and a larger fleet size.

Resources

Github repository
Sample input file
User’s Guide

Publications

8. S. Bhattacharya,  V. Nagaraju, L. Fiondella, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal (2020). Incorporating Reliability Improvement and Fleet Maintenance into Rotorcraft Tradespace Tools. In Proc.Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, Palm Springs, CA.

7. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, L. Fiondella (2018). Incorporating Quantitative Reliability Engineering Measures into Tradespace Exploration. Research in Engineering Design, 29(4), pp. 589-603. 

6. V. Nagaraju, L. Fiondella, S. Bhattacharya, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal (2018). Quantifying the Impact of Correlation between Reliability and Prognostics and Health Management on Accuracy, Safety, and Cost. In Proc. American Helicopter Society Annual Forum & Technology Display,Phoenix, AZ.

5. S. Bhattcharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, L. Fiondella (2017). Reliability Improvement to Minimize Average Procurement Unit Cost of a Rotorcraft Fleet. In Proc.of Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS), Orlando, FL.

4. S. Bhattcharya, V. Nagaraju, B. Jafary, K. Katipally, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, L. Fiondella (2017). Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization of Rotorcraft and Fleet Availability. In Proc.American Helicopter Society Annual Forum & Technology Display (AHS 2017), Fort Worth, TX. Best Paper Award, Systems Engineering Tools & Processes Session.

3. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, L. Fiondella, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal (2016). Process Improvement for Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration incorporating Reliability and Availability. In Proc. American Helicopter Society International 72nd Annual Forum & Technology Display, FL.

2. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, L. Fiondella (2015). Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration incorporating Reliability Engineering. In In Proc. American Helicopter Society International 71st Annual Forum & Technology Display,Virginia Beach, VA.

1. V. Nagaraju, S. Bhattacharya, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, L. Fiondella (2015). Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration Considering Cost and Availability. In Proc.American Helicopter Society Capability and Affordability in the Future of the Vertical Lift Industry Meeting, Huntsville, AL.

Invited Talks

1. Minimizing Average Procurement Unit Cost of a Rotorcraft Fleet through Reliability Improvement, Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan, July 24, 2017.

2. Minimizing Average Procurement Unit Cost of a Rotorcraft Fleet through Reliability Improvement, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan, July 21, 2017.

3. Tradespace Exploration Incorporating Reliability and Availability, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, VA, Aug 1, 2016.

Presentations and Tutorials

1. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, L. Fiondella, E. Spero, and Anindya Ghoshal, Minimizing Average Procurement Unit Cost for Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration, Poster presented at the Society of Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA, December 2017.

2. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, and L. Fiondella, Rotorcraft Tradespace Exploration incorporating Reliability Engineering, presented at the 5th Annual Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) Doctoral Students Forum, a University-Affiliated Research Center of the US Department of Defense, Stevens Institute of Technology, Washington DC, November 2017.

3. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, and L. Fiondella, Tradespace Analysis and Exploration incorporating Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Cost, Presented at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Annual Systems Engineering Conference, Springfield, VA, October, 2017.

4. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, and L. Fiondella, Minimizing Average Procurement Unit Cost of a Rotorcraft Fleet through Reliability Improvement, Presented to WG 17 Logistics, Reliability and Maintainability at the 85th Military Operations Research Symposium (MORS 2017), West Point, NY, June 2017.

5. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, and L. Fiondella, Tradespace Analysis considering Process and Reliability Improvement, Presented to WG 25 Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) at the 84rd Military Operations Research Symposium (MORS 2016), Quantico, VA, June 2016.

6. S. Bhattacharya, V. Nagaraju, E. Spero, A. Ghoshal, and L. Fiondella, Challenges and Benefits of incorporating Reliability Engineering into Tradespace Analysis, Presented to WG 17 Logistics, Reliability and Maintainability and WG 25 Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) at the 83rd Military Operations Research Symposium (MORS 2015), Alexandria, VA, June 2015.

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) through the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) under Prime Cooperative Agreement W911NF-16-2-0229, Sub-award activity number 8503-UMASS, Sub-award number X17-8500-UMASS. The work was previously supported by the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (ARL CRADA# 14-30) for Multi Task Technology Transfer between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD) and a Summer Research Fellowship Program grant from the Office of the Provost at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA.