Digital Healthcare Engineering
- Digital healthcare engineering is introduced as a unifying life cycle framework in which ships are treated as patients and engineering is reframed as continuous healthcare based on real-time monitoring, early diagnosis, predictive assessment, and timely intervention
- Real-time sensing, living digital twins, secure data transmission, and AI-driven intelligence are integrated into a single coherent system, enabling adaptive care under aging, uncertainty, and changing operational demands
- Engineering healthcare is defined across four inseparable dimensions: structural integrity, machinery condition, environmental exposure, and human well-being, with safety emerging from their tightly coupled interactions
- Preventive and holistic health preservation is emphasized, shifting the focus from episodic inspection and repair toward continuous intelligent life cycle care across the entire sociotechnical system
- A five-module architecture is outlined, consisting of real-time multimodal sensing, secure data transmission, digital twin simulation, AI-enhanced diagnostics, and predictive health management operating as a unified healthcare system
- Life cycle integration from concept design through construction, operation, life extension, and decommissioning is described as transforming ship engineering into a cradle-to-grave discipline grounded in continuous knowledge
- Continuous structural and machinery healthcare is enabled through nonlinear finite element digital twins, condition-based and predictive maintenance, and AI-driven fault diagnosis and prognosis for remaining useful life estimation
- Human well-being, cognitive load, ethical safeguards, and resilience-oriented design are embedded within living cyber-physical systems, distinguishing digital healthcare engineering from conventional structural health monitoring
Updated on Feb 24, 2026