Wire integrity management using sensors on-board manned aero-spacecraft

Is there a business case, for on-board wire integrity sensors for aero-spacecraft? Wire integrity management using on-board sensors seems a natural fit for future Integrated System Health Management (ISHM). Government and private enterprises are presently developing in-situ wire integrity sensors. Is there a value proposition for wire integrity management in manned aero-spacecraft? How would risk be reduced, or other benefits gained, from isolating failure to wiring, or a particular wire? In this paper we assume that in-situ wire sensors will be incorporated into ISHM systems. We focus on the business case for the inclusion of Wire Integrity Management in future vehicle design. We explore ground processing scenarios, rather than in-flight. Our expectations are that the greatest value of in-situ wire integrity management will be in savings of cost, scheduling, invasiveness, and risks. Ground processing includes: vehicle recovery, fault diagnosis, access, closeout and safing, tooling, repairs, spares provisioning, testing and validation, and preflight/postflight preparations.