A framework for effective management of condition based maintenance programs in the context of industrial development of E-Maintenance strategies

CBM (Condition Based Maintenance) solutions are increasingly present in industrial systems due to two main circumstances: rapid evolution, without precedents, in the capture and analysis of data and significant cost reduction of supporting technologies. CBM programs in industrial systems can become extremely complex, especially when considering the effective introduction of new capabilities provided by PHM (Prognostics and Health Management) and E-maintenance disciplines. In this scenario, any CBM solution involves the management of numerous technical aspects, that the maintenance manager needs to understand, in order to be implemented properly and effectively, according to the company’s strategy. This paper provides a comprehensive representation of the key components of a generic CBM solution, this is presented using a framework or supporting structure for an effective management of the CBM programs. The concept “symptom of failure”, its corresponding analysis techniques (introduced by ISO 13379-1 and linked with RCM/FMEA analysis), and other international standard for CBM open-software application development (for instance, ISO 13374 and OSA-CBM), are used in the paper for the development of the framework. An original template has been developed, adopting the formal structure of RCM analysis templates, to integrate the information of the PHM techniques used to capture the failure mode behaviour and to manage maintenance. Finally, a case study describes the framework using the referred template.Gobierno de Andalucía P11-TEP-7303 M

Software Measurement Activities in Small and Medium Enterprises: an Empirical Assessment

An empirical study for evaluating the proper implementation of measurement/metric programs in software companies in one area of Turkey is presented. The research questions are discussed and validated with the help of senior software managers (more than 15 years’ experience) and then used for interviewing a variety of medium and small scale software companies in Ankara. Observations show that there is a common reluctance/lack of interest in utilizing measurements/metrics despite the fact that they are well known in the industry. A side product of this research is that internationally recognized standards such as ISO and CMMI are pursued if they are a part of project/job requirements; without these requirements, introducing those standards to the companies remains as a long-term target to increase quality

Using the ISO/IEC 9126 product quality model to classify defects : a Controlled Experiment

Background: Existing software defect classification schemes support multiple tasks, such as root cause analysis and process improvement guidance. However, existing schemes do not assist in assigning defects to a broad range of high level software goals, such as software quality characteristics like functionality, maintainability, and usability. Aim: We investigate whether a classification based on the ISO/IEC 9126 software product quality model is reliable and useful to link defects to quality aspects impacted. Method: Six different subjects, divided in two groups with respect to their expertise, classified 78 defects from an industrial web application using the ISO/IEC 9126 quality main characteristics and sub-characteristics, and a set of proposed extended guidelines. Results: The ISO/IEC 9126 model is reasonably reliable when used to classify defects, even using incomplete defect reports. Reliability and variability is better for the six high level main characteristics of the model than for the 22 sub- characteristics. Conclusions: The ISO/IEC 9126 software quality model provides a solid foundation for defect classification. We also recommend, based on the follow up qualitative analysis performed, to use more complete defect reports and tailor the quality model to the context of us

Software reliability and dependability: a roadmap

Shifting the focus from software reliability to user-centred measures of dependability in complete software-based systems. Influencing design practice to facilitate dependability assessment. Propagating awareness of dependability issues and the use of existing, useful methods. Injecting some rigour in the use of process-related evidence for dependability assessment. Better understanding issues of diversity and variation as drivers of dependability. Bev Littlewood is founder-Director of the Centre for Software Reliability, and Professor of Software Engineering at City University, London. Prof Littlewood has worked for many years on problems associated with the modelling and evaluation of the dependability of software-based systems; he has published many papers in international journals and conference proceedings and has edited several books. Much of this work has been carried out in collaborative projects, including the successful EC-funded projects SHIP, PDCS, PDCS2, DeVa. He has been employed as a consultant t

Validation and Verification of Aircraft Control Software for Control Improvement

Validation and Verification are important processes used to ensure software safety and reliability. The Cooper-Harper Aircraft Handling Qualities Rating is one of the techniques developed and used by NASA researchers to verify and validate control systems for aircrafts. Using the Validation and Verification result of controller software to improve controller\u27s performance will be one of the main objectives of this process. Real user feedback will be used to tune PI controller in order for it to perform better. The Cooper-Harper Aircraft Handling Qualities Rating can be used to justify the performance of the improved system

Towards understanding software: 15 years in the SEL

For 15 years, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) at GSFC has been carrying out studies and experiments for the purpose of understanding, assessing, and improving software, and software processes within a production software environment. The SEL comprises three major organizations: (1) the GSFC Flight Dynamics Division; (2) the University of Maryland Computer Science Department; and (3) the Computer Sciences Corporation Flight Dynamics Technology Group. These organizations have jointly carried out several hundred software studies, producing hundreds of reports, papers, and documents: all describing some aspect of the software engineering technology that has undergone analysis in the flight dynamics environment. The studies range from small controlled experiments (such as analyzing the effectiveness of code reading versus functional testing) to large, multiple-project studies (such as assessing the impacts of Ada on a production environment). The key findings that NASA feels have laid the foundation for ongoing and future software development and research activities are summarized