Tackling Verification and Validation for Prognostics

Verification and validation (V&V) has been identified as a critical phase in fielding systems with Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) solutions to ensure that the results produced are robust, reliable, and can confidently inform about vehicle and system health status and to support operational and maintenance decisions. Prognostics is a key constituent within ISHM. It faces unique challenges for V&V since it informs about the future behavior of a component or subsystem. In this paper, we present a detailed review of identified barriers and solutions to prognostics V&V, and a novel methodological way for the organization and application of this knowledge. We discuss these issues within the context of a prognostics application for the ground support equipment of space vehicle propellant loading, and identify the significant barriers and adopted solution for this application.