Delivering maximum availability of platforms,systems and assets through their operational life is an essential requirement in the military domain and is reflected with increasing emphasis in the civil sector.
The importance of Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) has been stressed by the UK Ministry of Defence in its Defence Industrial Strategy.
The breadth of technologies needed to address the requirements of TLCM is drawn from across the diverse skill base of the ATC and pulls in partner companies to complement our own knowledge and technology base. Our approach enables us to offer a technology service that extends across the product lifecycle, from concept and initial design through to in-service monitoring and support to appropriate disposal at end of life.
We work in collaboration and partnership with the UK MoD, the supply base including SME’s and academia and a wide range of commercial clients to identify and develop technologies to support our customers’ products throughout their operational life.
Our portfolio of through life management technologies includes Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS),designed to improve the safety and reliability of land, sea and air platforms.
By monitoring key components, systems and structures, prognostic and diagnostic activities may be implemented, providing the user with warning of potential failure or system degradation, allowing remedial action to be taken before potentially damaging and costly failure.
With the time spent on maintenance and repair exceeding operational flying hours for some aircraft, the ability to perform maintenance as required rather than adhering to a pre-defined schedule,potentially provides significant through life cost savings and improvement to operational availability. One of the key enabling technologies supporting on-demand maintenance is Structural Health Monitoring (SHM),providing on request information on the state of the platform without labour intensive activity. Our SHM offering covers optical, acoustic and electrical sensors to support military and commercial aircraft.
We are world leaders in thin-film corrosion sensors and corrosion prediction modelling, providing systems that can deliver substantial cost savings in the lifetime of assets exposed to hostile environments. For the non-destructive examination of complex structures and surface coatings, we have developed a number of innovative solutions supported by extensive experience in the development and implementation of replacement coatings for military applications.
Addressing the broader requirements of through life management, we have the ability and expertise within the ATC and through our partner network to provide the communications technologies, data collection and data analysis tools needed to deliver on the expectations of TLCM. We are actively developing the prognostic and diagnostic systems and software which have the capability to learn and adapt to their conditions, with the ability to be fully integrated with existing and future logistical tools.
- Analysis, qualification and replacement of surface coatings
- Communication systems and data collection
- Corrosion measurement and prediction
- Diagnostic and prognostic systems and software
- In-service failure consultancy and analysis
- Integrated Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS)
- Non Destructive Examination (NDE) solutions
- Optical, acoustic and electrical structural health monitoring
- Thin-film sensor technology
