Electrohydraulic servovalves are critical components of the hydraulic servos and their correct operation is mandatory to ensure the proper functioning of the controlled hydraulic servosystem. The servovalve operation is often monitored by measuring the position of its spool and comparing it with the servovalve electrical input. This continuous monitor can detect hardover or oscillating failures of the servovalve, but fails short of detecting other malfunctionings and it can only signal the loss of servovalve operation.

Prognostics has the potential to be very valuable in many industries. This is especially the case in the petroleum industry where the costs of tool failure are extremely high and continue to increase. Previous attempts have been made to predict the remaining useful life of drilling tools. While the developed methods were shown to be able to accurately predict the remaining useful life, the data requirement was such that they had limited or no viability in "real world" operations.

Recorder utilization of data formatting standards enables abundant life-cycle savings, and this is addressed herein. The ARINC Standards cited in this paper’s title (i.e., ARINC 573/717, 767 and 647A) have, in large part, been developed to facilitate Flight Data Recorder (FDR) mandatory data capture requirements. These standards foster important equipment interchangeability or interoperability requirements, and, since they are also applicable to Aircraft Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) recording, critical Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) applications are supported.

This paper builds on the ability to produce a comprehensive automated Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) using qualitative model based reasoning techniques. The automated FMEA provides a comprehensive set of fault–effect relations by qualitative simulation and can be performed early in the design process. The comprehensive nature of the automated FMEA results in a fault-effect mapping that can be used to investigate the diagnosability of the system. A common requirement is to facilitate cost reductions by removing sensors or to improve diagnosability by including additional sensors.