RMCI, a Hunstville, Ala.-based company specializing in helicopter health and usage monitoring systems (Hums) and helicopter flight data monitoring (HFDM), is about to see its Krēnō analysis software program enter service with an unidentified large-fleet operator. Krēnō provides a streamlined interface and faster processing of data for monitoring both vibration (revealing aircraft health) and flight parameters (revealing how the aircraft is flown), according to the company.

Krēnō has been designed for use with RMCI’s lightweight expandable rotorcraft diagnostic system (XRDS)–STC approval is expected in the middle of this year–as well as other onboard Hums hardware. Using Krēnō with XRDS offers significant speed advantages over other systems, CEO Ken Speaks told AIN. “Downloading takes seconds, as opposed to minutes,” he said, adding that the subsequent data interpretation is much faster with Krēnō as well.

By combining Hums and HFDM analysis, Krēnō can allow operators to identify at precisely which point during the flight a particular defect appeared, Speaks said.

Krēnō can also open new avenues for monitoring the health of a helicopter. RMCI or the customer operator can create new indicators shedding light on, for example, a correlation between gear damage and a particular vibration pattern. “This significantly empowers the operator,” Speaks emphasized.

Some players in the Hums industry have suggested recently that real-time transmission of Hums and HFDM data could be a near-term improvement. While acknowledging that such connectivity is technically feasible and could be accomplished by connecting XRDS to a satellite system, Speaks said that his company has little interest in pursuing that capability. “Hums and HFDM are intended to detect faults early in their development and thereby allow the operator to schedule and perform maintenance before there is a failure in flight,” he said. Real-time alerts could generate unnecessary alarms.

RMCI’s XRDS weighs less than five pounds, including sensors, according to Speaks. Its price, too, is said to make it affordable for light twins and even singles. For the new onboard system, RMCI is developing “a new patent-pending approach for detecting cracks and monitoring propagation,” Speaks said.