Failure Investigation/Evaluation System and Technical Aides (FIESTA)

The Failure Investigation/Evaluation System and Technical Aides, (FIESTA) tool set consists of three parts; the fault isolation expert component, a system alignment monitor and the “WEB interface” collection of supporting technical resources. FIESTA is a decision support software application. This product is being developed by the Port Hueneme Detachment of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (PHD-NSWC), Missile Systems Department, Port Hueneme, California. Its purpose is to automate missile and test set troubleshooting and diagnostic processes for the US navy´s standard missile operational test community. Specifically, it was developed to import, manipulate, process and display test data from the Standard Missile Mark 612 mod 4 test system. It is built exclusively with “Off the Shelf” Microsoft components. Some of the key benefits are outlined. These include: reduction of troubleshooting time; a training tool to improve diagnostic skills; test improvement team with a tool for evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of current test software; reduction of the dependency on test set experts and reduction of the need for field service assistance calls; minimisation of unnecessary rework of missile rounds due to faulty diagnosis; an intelligent component that gathers failure resolution data, and incorporates it into the model for future benefit; provision of a statistical process control tool; and implementation of smarter algorithms