Every system is a network of intentions—
designed to move, sense, decide, deliver.
But no matter how advanced,
every system can break.
A wire corrodes.
A bearing heats.
A software loop stalls.
And suddenly, the mission is off course.
The question is not if something will fail—
but what happens when it does,
and what can be done before it gets there.
This is the purpose of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
Not after the crash.
Before.
What Is FMEA?
FMEA is a structured, bottom-up approach
used to identify all possible failure modes of a system,
assess their effects, and prioritize them by risk.
Where Fault Tree Analysis works backward from failure,
FMEA moves forward from function.
It asks:
– What could go wrong here?
– What would the impact be?
– How severe? How likely? How detectable?
Then it scores those risks, so engineers and planners can focus where it matters most.
The Anatomy of FMEA
Each component, subsystem, or function is analyzed through key fields:
- Function
– What is this component supposed to do? - Failure Mode
– In what ways could it fail?
(e.g., short circuit, software crash, stuck actuator) - Effects of Failure
– What happens when it fails?
(on the component, on the system, on the mission) - Severity (S)
– How serious is the impact? - Occurrence (O)
– How likely is the failure to happen? - Detection (D)
– How likely is the failure to be detected before it causes harm? - Risk Priority Number (RPN)
– RPN = S × O × D
– Used to prioritize which risks to address first - Recommended Actions
– Design changes, redundancy, alert systems, inspections, or software guards
FMEA in Autonomous Aircraft and Systems
In UAVs and autonomous platforms, FMEA is essential to:
– Prevent mission-critical component failures
– Design redundant or fault-tolerant architectures
– Establish preflight checklists and self-diagnosis routines
– Guide alert thresholds and hazard escalation rules
– Ensure certification and regulatory compliance (e.g., in UAM or BVLOS ops)
Example failure modes:
– GPS receiver signal loss
– IMU drift beyond threshold
– Propulsion overheat
– Sensor fusion delay
– Battery cell imbalance
FMEA doesn’t just tell you that something could fail—
it tells you which failure matters,
how to catch it early,
and what tradeoffs are worth making to prevent it.
Why It Matters
FMEA is not about fear.
It’s about foresight.
It turns engineering from a collection of parts
into a narrative of risk—
one that can be written, scored, adjusted, and strengthened before the system ever lifts off.
It’s especially powerful when:
– Time is tight
– Budgets are limited
– Safety must be proven, not promised
And in autonomous systems,
where the vehicle must understand its own weaknesses
even when no human is watching,
FMEA becomes a form of embedded wisdom.
Because to build something that can go anywhere,
you first have to understand how it might fall apart—
and what can be done,
before it does.