Health capability determination system and method

A method of determining a capability of a system, comprising the steps of:

• representing a capability of the system as at least a lowest-level capability, the lowest-level capability quantifiably impacted by one or more system parameters and by no other capabilities of the system;
• representing the quantifiable impact of the one or more system parameters on the lowest-level capability as a function of the one or more system parameters on the lowest-level capability;
• and
• computing a value of the capability of the system from at least the one or more system parameters that are present.

A system health capabilities system, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors, each sensor operable to sense a system parameter and supply sensor data representative thereof;
• system health capability reasoner means having capability data stored therein, the capability data representative of a system capability that is represented as at least a lowest-level capability, the lowest-level capability quantifiably impacted by one or more system faults and by no other capabilities of the system, the quantifiable impact of the one or more faults on the lowest-level capability represented as a function of the one or more system faults on the lowest-level capability, the system health capability reasoner means for:
• receiving the sensor data,
• determining whether one or more of the system faults is present,
• determining the quantifiable impact of each fault that is present on the lowest-level capability, and
• computing a value of the capability of the system from at least the lowest-level capability.