{"id":1375311,"date":"2022-03-14T08:02:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T12:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1375311"},"modified":"2022-03-14T08:06:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T12:06:35","slug":"navy-deploying-new-tech-to-help-avoid-maintenance-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/navy-deploying-new-tech-to-help-avoid-maintenance-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy Deploying New Tech to Help Avoid Maintenance Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnavy-deploying-new-tech-to-help-avoid-maintenance-problems%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1375311&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2 class=\"title-alt-01\"><span class=\"font-color-01\">Navy to Deploy New Tech to Prevent Maintenance Problems<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"article-top-info font-secondary\">\n<p>\n                                        <strong class=\"date\">3\/11\/2022<\/strong><br \/>\n                                        <br \/><span class=\"author\"><br \/>\n                                                By<br \/>\nJon\u00a0Harper                                            <\/span>\n                                <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-main-img\">\n                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nationaldefensemagazine.org\/-\/media\/sites\/magazine\/2022\/03\/4895928.ashx?h=500&#038;w=878&#038;la=en&#038;hash=21185E163AF181ACCFD82DB7F99FC1EA\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n                                    <span>DDG-51<\/span>\n                            <\/div>\n<p class=\"photo-credit\">Navy photo<\/p>\n<p>Keeping ships at sea and their systems and subsystems functioning is critical for Navy readiness. To address the challenge, the service is about to deploy new technology at the tactical edge that could alert sailors before unanticipated problems arise while a vessel is underway.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time to leverage new capabilities to help with sustainment and create \u201cmore ready ships\u201d as the Pentagon competes with China in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere, officials say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will think differently about the fleet we have, and we will consider ways of getting more out of it,\u201d said a new Navy document released in January, \u201cSurface Warfare: The Competitive Edge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That includes \u201charnessing the power of data analytics to anticipate maintenance and modernization requirements that then translate into well-defined, well executed work packages \u2026 [and] continuing to improve our spare parts processes, to include those that should be carried aboard,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>James Moser, director of fleet readiness in the office of the chief of naval operations, said the sea service needs to know in advance if an important system onboard a ship is about to have a problem that needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be surprised\u201d by equipment issues, he said during a panel at the Surface Navy Association\u2019s annual symposium. \u201cIf we are surprised, we want to be surprised early\u201d before something breaks down, he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Navy\u2019s current maintenance and business management process has been around since the 1960s, noted Capt. Scott Larson, program manager for surface ship readiness and sustainment at Naval Sea Systems Command.<\/p>\n<p>It is \u201csort of a monolithic, static, calendar-based system,\u201d he explained during a recent briefing with reporters. \u201cI think we can do things smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Navy is already performing condition-based maintenance with the help of sensor technology, but it hasn\u2019t fully leveraged more advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics on ships at sea, officials say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re doing remote monitoring. We\u2019re doing some automation and alarm recognition. But we\u2019re not doing AI and ML at the edge. We\u2019re [only] doing that on the shore side\u201d of the maintenance enterprise, Larson said.<\/p>\n<p>To change the paradigm, the service has launched a pilot program known as Condition-Based Maintenance Plus that could yield far-reaching benefits if everything goes according to plan. The \u201cplus\u201d designation refers to the addition of cutting edge technology such as AI and ML.<\/p>\n<p>Data scientists at Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division are stepping up to the challenge and have developed algorithms to deploy at sea.<\/p>\n<p>With CBM Plus \u201cthe failure modes tell us, \u2018Hey, captain, this equipment has X number of hours before it\u2019s going to fail,\u2019\u201d Larson explained. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat informs risk decisions at the edge, at the command level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The capability is potentially game changing and will be \u201cone of the key leaps forward that we\u2019re making here with this pilot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sean Burke, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for sustainment, said: \u201cThat is a big enabler for us to become way more accurate with respect to when we do maintenance, where we do maintenance and what we need to do in maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Proponents have been touting the potential of the CBM Plus concept for a long time, but now there is a sense of urgency among Navy leadership to get the technology out to the fleet, according to Larson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a capability that we\u2019ve talked about for about 15 years, and now we have a mandate from echelon one to actually go and do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The architecture the Navy plans to build will apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to information collected by sensors, and then leverage the power of data analytics to enable predictive maintenance so sailors can \u201cget left of failure,\u201d Larson said.<br \/>Service officials hope the technology will help them figure out how to keep equipment running longer and improve operational availability at the system level.<\/p>\n<p>It could also inform intermediate level maintenance activity, which is performed by Navy personnel on repair ships and at fleet support bases, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Burke noted that CBM Plus could also help supply chain managers know what they need to stock ships with before they deploy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can get much more accurate with your supply,\u201d he said. \u201cYou should be much more accurate in being able to understand what you need to do before the ship deploys, and then what [maintenance activities] you can save to do for when the ship comes back. And you should then also be able to much more accurately supply that ship with the critical parts that it\u2019s going to need because the ship is telling you what it\u2019s going to need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Larson said the potential applications of the technology are vast and will be a boon for service members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we can return some of those maintenance man-hours to the ships, to the sailors, to let them focus on more important tasks \u2014 tasks related to training, warfighting, whatever that may be \u2014 that\u2019s a win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Navy is so keen on the initiative that it\u2019s accelerating its schedule by three years.<\/p>\n<p>During the first phase slated for later this year, the technology will be activated onboard a DDG-51 destroyer as a test case to validate its utility.<\/p>\n<p>The plan is to move away from relying on a calendar-based maintenance paradigm to one based on the health of the equipment as assessed by the onboard sensors and algorithms. Those capabilities will tell SKED when to trigger a preventive maintenance check, he explained. SKED is the program that is currently used to plan, schedule and execute shipboard maintenance.<\/p>\n<p>By utilizing these more advanced analytics and prognostic tools, sailors can take action to prevent unplanned downtime and keep their ship \u201cin the fight\u201d longer. And if equipment must be taken offline to address problems, it will be down for less time than it would be without the technology because issues can be addressed before a system fails catastrophically, he said.<\/p>\n<p>At least nine critical systems on DDG-51 destroyers \u2014 the class of battle force ships with the highest number of vessels currently in the fleet \u2014 will be part of the pilot effort.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to the future architecture, the Navy wants an \u201cend-to-end CBM Plus kill chain\u201d that can scale the capability across the fleet and integrate \u201cbest of breed\u201d algorithms and analytic tools provided by industry, Larson said.<\/p>\n<p>The Navy hopes to achieve that in late 2023. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s when I think we get to \u2026 a total-ship solution with logistics integrated,\u201d Larson said. \u201cIn the next year-and-a-half to two years, we\u2019re looking to take a substantial leap forward in the application of this technology on surface ships at the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While DDG-51s will be the first ships to receive the technology, the Navy also plans to begin integrating it into new ships, starting with FFG-62 Constellation-class guided missile frigates.<\/p>\n<p>Larson noted there are technical risks involved in CBM Plus, and he hopes the new technology won\u2019t \u201cspook the herd\u201d and make users wary of it.<\/p>\n<p>However, he has been briefing service leaders and they are \u201call-in\u201d on the initiative, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is going to happen,\u201d Larson told the symposium\u2019s attendees.<\/p>\n<p>Burke suggested the initiative isn\u2019t a traditional type of pilot program with a fixed end date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not going to wrap up,\u201d he told National Defense. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is learn early, learn quickly and scale. Where it doesn\u2019t work, then it would tail off. But there\u2019s every expectation that we\u2019re going to get value \u2026 [and] get more accurate with the maintenance of when and where you do it, and how you do it. And then get more accurate with the supply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cWe fully expect that \u2026 as we bring in the hardware and software suite that makes up the CBM Plus capability, we\u2019re going to be able to take that and go\u201d deploy it across the fleet.<\/p>\n<p>The technology isn\u2019t just applicable to surface ships. It could be leveraged for submarines or other platforms. he noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s applicable across the department,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how you bring the systems into the fold, if you will. And then how you use the data that you collect \u2026 and create that CBM Plus environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the initial algorithms designed for CBM Plus have been developed by Navy data scientists, the service wants help from contractors who could integrate their own artificial intelligence and machine learning tools into the force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI invite industry\u2019s teaming and participation with this effort because when we get to the architecture, getting to that best of breed analytics \u2026 really allows us to scale and proliferate the capability, not just to DDG-51s but the other surface ship platforms so that the whole fleet can capitalize on the benefit,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n<p>The Navy needs to incentivize industry to provide advanced algorithms, he added, noting that CBM Plus was part of the design specifications for the Constellation-class frigate.<\/p>\n<p>Burke said contractors have a key role to play in helping the service achieve its vision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re the ones who create and build the ships for us and all the subsystems,\u201d he said. Industry is also \u201cpretty far ahead\u201d of the Navy when it comes to AI, he noted. \u201cIt\u2019s that whole data analytics part of that. You\u2019ve got to have industry helping to marry that stuff up together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While there will be challenges in doing so, officials say they are determined to forge ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you that there\u2019s not a lot of pushups left here, but the opportunity space is huge,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n<p>\n                                <strong class=\"font-color-01 font-size-02\">Topics:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaldefensemagazine.org\/articles?Topic={8F7FE996-87B2-4B2F-9FCD-2E46D0167DE6}\">Navy News<\/a>\n                            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navy to Deploy New Tech to Prevent Maintenance Problems  3\/11\/2022 By Jon\u00a0Harper   DDG-51 Navy photo Keeping ships at sea and their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1375311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}