Panel Sessions

The PHM Society provides an opportunity to hear and interact with recognized industry leaders in relevant areas for our PHM work. These 90 minute panel sessions will consist of presentations and open discussion by 4-6 panelists directly engaging with the conference audience on the different topics listed below.

These sessions add an enriching dimension to the conference experience and a welcome networking alternative to traditional paper presentations, which dominate some conferences. We believe balancing the conference time in this fashion provides participants a much more engaging experience and increased opportunity to gain unique knowledge.

Panel Session Topics:

  • Standards for the Digital Age
  • PHM19 Education and Professional Development Workshop
  • The Electrifying Pace of Automotive PHM
  • PHM for Manufacturing
  • PHM Enablers for Autonomous Systems
  • Fielded Systems: Lessons Learned
  • Theoretical Aspects of Prognostics
  • PHM for Human Health and Performance
  • * NEW * PHM for Aviation Maintenance Repair Organizations (MRO)
  • * NEW * PHM for Space Applications
  • * NEW * Precision Agriculture
  • * NEW * Small Business

Panel Committee Chairs:

David Siegel
Radu Pavel

Panel Session Schedule:

Panel Day/Time Location
PHM for Aviation Maintenance Repair Organizations Tuesday, 9:00 – 10:30 Arizona I
PHM for Manufacturing Tuesday, 10:45 – 12:15 Arizona I
The Electrifying Pace of Automotive PHM Tuesday, 1:30 – 3:00 Arizona I
PHM for Space Applications Tuesday, 3:15 – 4:45 Arizona I
PHM for Human Health and Performance Wednesday, 9:00 – 10:30 Arizona I
Precision Agriculture Wednesday, 10:45 – 12:15 Arizona I
PHM Enablers for Autonomous Systems Wednesday, 1:30 – 3:00 Arizona I
Fielded Systems: Lessons Learned Wednesday, 3:15 – 4:45 Arizona I
Theoretical Aspects of Prognostics Thursday, 9:00 – 10:30 Apache I
PHM19 Education and Professional Development Workshop Thursday, 9:00 – 10:30 Arizona I
Small Business Thursday, 10:45 – 12:15 Arizona I
Standards for the Digital Stage Thursday, 3:15 – 4:45 Arizona I

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Panel Session Details

PHM for Aviation Maintenance Repair Organizations
Session Chairs: Frank Zahiri (USAF Warner Robins ALC) (presentation) and Andy Hess (The Hess PHM Group)
Description: Maintenance Repair Organizations (MROs) are an extremely critical part of any military or commercial aviation sustainment enterprise. The efficiency and production performance of any MRO directly effects the associated aircraft’s fleet-wide operational availability, readiness, sustainment costs. PHM capabilities coupled with Resilient and Smart Manufacturing related technologies can play significant roles in increasing the efficiency and production performance for any aircraft MRO. This panel will explore current MRO challenges and issues; and focus on how particular PHM capabilities and new Resilient and Smart Manufacturing technologies can positively impact MRO performance and the overall goals for the contemporary sustainment enterprise.
List of Panelists:

 

PHM for Manufacturing (proceedings)
Session Chair: Greg Vogl (NIST)
Description: The future industrial internet of things (IIoT) will realize the connectivity of machine tools and online diagnostics and prognostics for improved product quality and asset utilization. But the question remains: How do we get there? Machine tools are vital for the production of high-value parts, and these machines will still be mechanical in nature, thus subject to wear and performance changes. One vision of IIoT is a future with maintenance systems with self-diagnostic capabilities that enable equipment to achieve and sustain near-zero breakdown performance. Parts should be produced with no unplanned downtime while reducing manufacturing costs and maintaining or increasing part quality. But how to do so? Manufacturers need smart machine tools with online abilities to assess their own health, so that production isn’t halted but enhanced. Through identification of current health and early signs of problems, smart machine tools with prognostic and health management (PHM) systems will give manufacturers the trusted information they need to optimize production. Currently, manufacturers are implementing their own PHM programs based around various sensors including MEMS accelerometers. This panel will bring together a diverse group of speakers from industry and academia to discuss online sensor-based solutions to transform machine tools into smart machine tools for the future IIoT. Discussion will focus around sensor-based PHM solutions for spindles and linear axes, which are the main elements of machine tools that affect part quality. However, another goal of the panel is to spur discussion to explore the potential impact of these relatively new approaches to other industries of interest to the PHM Society, such as transportation vehicles and energy production assets.
List of Panelists:

  • Sreerupa (“Rupa”) Das (Lockheed Martin)
  • Jaydeep Karandikar (Oak Ridge National Lab) (presentation)
  • Mark Walker (D2K Technologies) (presentation)
  • Lou Zhang (Machine Metrics)

 

The Electrifying Pace of Automotive PHM (proceedings)
Session Chair: Azeem Sarwar (General Motors)
Description: Increasing electric and electronic content in modern day vehicles is bringing value to the customers but also adding to vehicle complexity. US-based OEMs and suppliers collectively paid about 7.4 billion USD in 2016 for warranty claims – with 50% or more related to electric or electronic components. With increasingly tight emission requirements and growing societal pressures, the auto industry is turning toward electric vehicles. More component sensing is possible than ever before, and more vehicles are boasting 4G connectivity that is essential to off-load data for cloud-based analytics. PHM demands a strategic approach aligned not only with company goals and product requirements but also linked into its field service support. This panel will explore the challenges and opportunities posed by the increasingly electrified automotive market and how PHM technologies can help mitigate warranty costs.
List of Panelists:

  • Regan Dixon (General Motors)
  • Steve Holland (General Motors (retired))
  • Ravindra Patankar (KPIT Technologies Limited)
  • Michael Pecht (CALCE, University of Maryland)
  • Daniel Riegel (Robert Bosch GmbH)

 

PHM for Space Applications (proceedings)
Session Chairs: Derek DeVries (NGC) and Andy Hess (The Hess PHM Group)
Announcement from D2K
Description: The planned use of manned and long term crewed space platforms, as well as quick to launch and reusable space vehicles, is increasing on a very accelerating rate. After the legacy NASA developed Space Shuttle and LEO ISS; among many things, there are near term NASA plans for: a lunar Gateway station, a permanent lunar base, asteroid present, and Mars bases. Vehicles and platforms to accomplish these far reaching goals will include: crewed space and surface based stations and habitats; various types of launch, long range transportation, and orbit to surface vehicles; and all kinds of support subsystems and technologies. Beside NASA and other government directed organizations; commercial based entities are aggressively developing systems to achieve these same and additional space related goals. These associated commercial focused applications include space tourist to LEO, space based hotels, and resource mining. This panel will focus on issues and challenges associated with these applications; and how PHM capabilities can be applied to reduce risks, increase efficiencies, and ensure resilient sustainment of these vehicles, platforms, habitats, and systems.
List of Panelists:

 

PHM for Human Health and Performance
Session Chairs: Thurmon Lockhart (Arizona State University) and Erica Forzani (Arizona State University)
Description: The age distribution and the mean age are undergoing rapid and significant changes worldwide. Based on current projections made by the United States Census Bureau, the present population of older adults 65 years of age and older will double by the year 2030 and constitute a significant portion of the total population. Considering that three-fourths of Americans age 65 and older have one or more chronic conditions, with nearly 50% of them reporting two or more conditions, the availability of health care resources and health care providers becomes critically important. Many chronic diseases that severely limit quality of life are difficult to manage in their later stages, but can be managed more effectively and efficiently if treated early – as such, underpinnings of Predictive Health Management (PHM) – “predict and render preventive measures prior to failure” is well suited to respond to the health needs of older adults. Implementation of new and innovative approaches to healthcare delivery that focuses on an integrated, yet affordable approach that “closes the gap” between the traditionally separate fields of health monitoring and prevention is necessary. As such, this panel will discuss contributions in the fields of wearable smart sensors, sensor-data-fusion, machine learning and data mining, prediction and diagnosis, and electronic health records and databases – all in the context of prognostics and health management for human health and performance. Moreover, this panel builds on the discussions of the experience and processes encountered/created by the panelists, and highlights specific challenges, needs, and wants with respect to the development and implementation of standards and guidelines pertaining to PHM in the area of human health and performance. This diverse group of panelists will present their perspectives on PHM as it pertains to human assets. Conversations will include PHM’s current and future envisioned applications within general healthcare, high stress work environments, sports/athletes, theatre, and space environments, along with how the needs, data stream, and supporting PHM tools, can be better designed, developed, implemented, integrated, verified, and validated to impact the new paradigm of smart healthcare.
List of Panelists:

  • Liang Dong (Iowa State University)
  • Erica Forzani (Arizona State University)
  • Thurmon Lockhart (Arizona State University)
  • Jennifer Margrett (Iowa State University)
  • Balaji Narashimhan (Iowa State University)
  • Teresa Wu (Arizona State University)
  • Yezhou Yang (Arizona State University)

 

Precision Agriculture (proceedings)
Session Chair: Alice Robinson (Karrott Reserach)
Description: The objective of our panel is to showcase the exciting world of Precision Agriculture and specifically the emerging revolution in Data-Driven agriculture. Precision Agriculture has been defined by Wikipedia as the key component of the third wave of modern agriculture revolutions. However, despite the many significant advances that have been made in GPS-driven agricultural equipment and the use of in-field sensors and drones for soil and crop monitoring, data-driven, daily farm management still remains a “Holy Grail” to be fully realized. This panel will examine the challenges faced in Big Data acquisition and analysis for rapidly delivering actionable information on a daily basis for supporting complex, farm management decisions.
List of Panelists:

 

PHM Enablers for Autonomous Systems
Session Chairs: Karl Reichard (Penn State University) and George Vachtsevanos (Georgia Tech)
Description: The panel will address PHM and other technologies in the design and operation of unmanned autonomous systems (aerial, ground, sea surface and undersea vehicles). Autonomous systems are attracting the attention of researchers and users in a variety of application domains from Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance to rescue operations, border patrol, driverless vehicles, driverless air taxis, undersea exploration, among others. It is documented that autonomous systems (UAVs, for example) are failing at alarming rates. PHM and related technologies aim to introduce new tools/methods for their resilient design and safe operation. The panel is inviting the participation of scientists/engineers, students and academics, company personnel, government personnel involved in autonomy and autonomous systems, conference participants interested to learn about the emerging autonomous systems technologies. Panel members and panel participants will discuss current and future technologies for improved system performance. Actual case studies and examples will be used to illustrate the technological innovations.
List of Panelists:

  • Yao Cui (Kuka Robotics)
  • Wolfgang Fink (University of Arizona)
  • Kai Goebel (PARC)
  • Steve Holland (General Motors (retired))
  • Mathieu Kemp (Monterey Bay Aquarium)

 

Fielded Systems: Lessons Learned
Session Chair: Andy Hess (The Hess PHM Group) and Ash Thakker (Global Technology Connections, Inc.)
Description: Several long-term career practitioners in the fields of PHM and CBM+ will share their experiences, observations, and lessons learned as part of this distinguished panel of experts. Much can be learned from the requirements generation, development, Verification and Validation, implementation, maturation, fielded use, fleet support, and enterprise-wide use of real world PHM systems. Just the development of the individual capabilities that make up a comprehensive and fully integrated PHM system; provides many lessons learned – both good and bad. A recently evolving important focused area will also be explored around the question: “just who really owns the data that these systems produce”. These issues need to be discussed, documented, and viewed across the many industry sectors that are fielding PHM systems. Short presentations will be given by all panel participants that describe their particular topic area and experiences within the PHM/CBM+ domains. An open panel discussion will follow to explore some of these identified specific issues and concerns.
List of Panelists:

  • James (“Hoffy”) Hofmeister (Ridgetop Group)
  • Mark Hollins (NAVAIR)
  • Greg Kacprzynski (Sikorsky / Lockheed Martin RMS)
  • Piyush Modi (NVIDIA)
  • Michael Pecht (CALCE, University of Maryland)

 

Theoretical Aspects of Prognostics
Session Chair: Chetan Kulkarni (SGT)
Description: This session is focused on the development of Theoretical Aspects in Prognostics. In majority of the Prognostic and Health Management applications particle filtering-based algorithms are being implemented as the state-of-the-art. However, PF-based prognosis frameworks have demonstrated their drawbacks when trying to estimate the probability of failure in nonlinear, non-Gaussian systems performing uncertain operating profiles. To overcome this issue, it is first necessary to establish adequate performance metrics for the framework which has been discussed and presented in recent years. It has been observed that not much work has been done on standardizing prognostics definitions as they suffer from ambiguous and inconsistent interpretations.

The session plans to bring together academics and industry experts in the area to discuss about the lack of standards due to varied end-user requirements as well as varying application domains, including aerospace, automotive, nuclear power, electrical etc.

List of Panelists:

  • Marcos Orchard (Universidad de Chile)
  • Marcos Quinones (Vanderbilt University)
  • Bin Zhang (University of South Carolina)

 

PHM19 Education and Professional Development Workshop (proceedings)
Session Chairs: Karl Reichard (Pennsylvania State University) and Jeff Bird (TECnos) (presentation)
Description: The PHM Society mission emphasizes free and unrestricted access to PHM knowledge, promotion of interdisciplinary and international collaboration in PHM and leading the advancement of PHM as an engineering discipline. ‘Products’ for PHM education and professional development accessible to the whole community contribute to all of these aims. PHM18- Intro Education and Professional Development Panel.pdf

The PHM Taxonomy under development offers a common basis for understanding PHM domains, and skill levels and advancement. The PHM Continuing Professional Development Guidelines offer personal and organizational career planning and enhancement for the PHM community as a whole.

This workshop format will validate and advance the scope, content and applications of these two products to serve the widest domains of PHM and its stakeholders. Draft versions of the products will be made available in advance through updates to the existing PHM Society forums.

List of Panelists:

  • Jeff Bird (PHM Society EPD Committee Chair)
  • Jamie Coble (University of Tennessee)
  • Nancy Madge (TECnos)
  • George Vachtsevanos (Georgia Tech)

 

Small Business
Session Chair: Ash Thakker (Global Technology Connection, Inc.)Description: There are a variety of different small business organizations involved in prognostics and health management technology and solutions, and their applications include use cases in both the commercial and government/defense sector. Challenges and successes from small business organizations in this field will be highlighted, including how they engage and collaborate with larger organizations on PHM related projects, whether they focus on a service or product type of business model, and different approaches they use for growing and funding their business. Aspects related to which funding approaches they consider, such as SBIR/government grants, venture capital / investment, among other approaches will also be discussed. Ways forwards on how the PHM Society can involve and engage more small business organizations or include more topics at the conference will also be considered.

List of Panelists:

  • Eric Bechhoefer (GPMS Inc.)
  • Sudipto Ghoshal (Qualtech Systems Inc.)
  • Ben Lakowsky (Analatom)
  • Manny Nwadiogbu (Smart Asset Monitoring & Management Systems)

 

Standards for the Digital Age (proceedings)
Session Chairs: Jeff Bird (TECnos) and Brian Weiss (NIST) (presentation)
Description: Every industry associated with the discipline of PHM is undergoing a digital transformation. This is especially so with the automobile sector, but other, more traditional disciplines, such as manufacturing, are not far behind. Most standard-setting organization have taken cognizance of this shift and are responding to it with new documents outlining their approach to dealing with all the new technology. In the mobility sector, SAE International is constituting a number of technical committees to deal with digital transformation and to develop standards related to different aspects of the phenomenon. Digital communications and interoperability, Blockchain, Model-based design and testing, Artificial intelligence in safety critical systems, etc., are some of the topics being considered. Other organizations such as the ASME, A4A, IATA, IEEE, and ASTM are also developing standards in this area. This panel will bring together industry experts to discuss the latest progress in these fields.
List of Panelists: