As quality and reliability science evolves, it reflects the trends and transformations of the technologies it supports. A device utilizing a new technology, whether it be a solar power panel, a stealth aircraft, or a state‐of‐the‐art medical device, needs to function properly and without failure throughout its mission life.

In addition to addressing the reliability of new technology, the field of quality and reliability engineering has been going through its own evolution, developing new techniques and methodologies aimed at process improvement and reduction in the number of design‐ and manufacturing‐related failures. One of these disciplines is prognostics and health management/monitoring (PHM), a fast‐growing field intended to ensure safety and provide the state of health and estimate remaining useful life (RUL) of components and systems. PHM injects a more proactive approach into system reliability, where application of physics of failure (PoF), degradation analysis, and modern algorithms allow the prediction of failure time and, consequently, the ability to take actions preventing failures from happening.

The advancement and growing application of functional safety standards, along with the fast development of autonomous vehicles, increases the pressure to achieve exceptionally high system reliability, thus making PHM an indispensable tool to meet these expectations.

PHM can provide many advantages to users and maintainers, including financial benefits such as operational and maintenance cost reductions and extended lifetime. Despite the additional cost required to facilitate prognostics (monitoring systems, algorithms development, etc.), PHM has positive effects on the overall lifecycle cost of the system by avoiding costly and sometimes catastrophic failures.

This book has been written by the leading experts and state‐of‐the‐art practitioners in the field of prognostics and health management/monitoring. It discusses the many technical aspects of PHM along with its cost benefits and will be an excellent addition to this book series. The Wiley Series in Quality & Reliability Engineering aims to provide a solid educational foundation for researchers and practitioners in the field of quality and reliability engineering and to expand the knowledge base by including the latest developments in these disciplines.

Despite its obvious importance, quality and reliability education is paradoxically lacking in today's engineering curriculum. Few engineering schools offer degree programs or even a sufficient variety of courses in quality or reliability methods. Therefore, the majority of quality and reliability practitioners receive their professional training from colleagues, professional seminars, publications, and technical books. The lack of formal education opportunities in this field greatly emphasizes the importance of technical publications for professional development.

We hope that this book, as well as the whole series, will continue Wiley's tradition of excellence in technical publishing and provide a lasting and positive contribution to the teaching and practice of engineering.