Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Many complex engineering systems need to perform reliably and efficiently for extended periods of time without any interruption or degredation in their performance. This requirement often stem from safety, economics, or environmental reasons. Practical examples of such system are abundant. Aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, autonomous space and underwater vehicles and structures, (nuclear) power and communication; chemical process control and allied industries; energy storage and smart grids are example of systems that must perform uninterrupted and within the desired operating range for safety, economic, and environmental reasons. On the other hand, events (e.g. aging) leading to performance degradation, incipient or complete failure of instruments or component are inevitable. As such, an automated ability to continously monitor the health of the system; detect and rank the severity of any possible fault, as well as isolate, and accommodate for it through self healing, would be highly desirable functions for all aforementioned systems. We propose to study the fundamental challenges in designing the next generation of smart systems that have health monitoring and self healing capabilities integrated along with the more traditional requirements for command, control, and communications. The applicant has a solid track record of close to thirty years research and collaboration with industry, government, and other university organizations. NASA Lewis (now Glenn), NASA Ames, BC Hydro, Imperial Oil, GM R & D Center, Canadian Space Agency, Danfoss, International Submarine Engineering, University of Alberta, Northeastern University, Concordia University, Northumbria University (UK), ENSI Bourges (France) etc. are such examples. Additionally, many highly qualified students and research personnel have been trained in his lab and are successfully employed in Canada and all over the world. The proposed research meets the needs of many Canadian industries and has a high chance for commercialization, and as importantly, potential for providing the industry with a supply of highly trained engineers.