Reducing repairs

Military vehicles could soon be fitted with BAE Systems' Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) platform in an attempt to reduce vehicle repair time on the front line.

The group is working on a military-friendly version of IVHM to monitor parts of the vehicle's chassis, body and accessory devices. Despite being in the early stages of development, researchers are hopeful it will save the Ministry of Defence (MoD) billions of pounds a year by preventing vehicle damage and unnecessary maintenance.

Peter Foote, an executive scientist at BAE Systems, said: 'In essence, IVHM is a way of looking after platforms, vehicles and systems using an end-to-end process beginning with monitoring sensors and looking at the status of a platform, right the way through to back-office systems that use that data to manage the whole maintenance operation and the availability of the vehicles where they are needed.'

The system works by collecting data from sensors distributed on the vehicle that gather data on the condition of the vehicle's components and subsystems. On-board processors assess the vehicle's health, predict its future life and any possible deterioration.