Structural Analysis Extended with Active Fault Isolation - Methods and Algorithms

Isolability of faults is a key issue in fault diagnosis whether the aim is maintenance or active fault-tolerant control. It is often encountered that while faults are detectable, they are only group-wise isolable from a usual diagnostic point of view. However, active injection of test signals on system inputs can considerably enhance fault isolability. This paper investigates this possibility of active fault isolation from a structural point of view. While such extension of the structural analysis approach was suggested earlier, algorithms and case studies were needed to explore this theory. The paper develops algorithms for investigation of the possibilities of active structural isolation and it offers illustrative examples and a larger case study to explore the properties of active structural isolability ideas.