Francesca Boem

Distributed Fault Detection and Isolation of Continuous-Time Non-Linear Systems

This paper presents a continuous-time distributed fault detection and isolation methodology for nonlinear uncertain possibly large-scale dynamical systems. The monitored system is modeled as the interconnection of several subsystems and a divide et impera approach using an overlapping decomposition is adopted. Each subsystem is monitored by a Local Fault Diagnoser using the information based on the measured local state of the subsystem as well as the measurements about neighboring states thanks to the subsystem interconnections. The local diagnostic decision is made on the basis of the knowledge of the local subsystem dynamic model and of an adaptive approximation of the interconnection with neighboring subsystems. In order to improve the detectability and isolability of faults affecting variables shared among different subsystems, a consensus-based estimator is designed. Theoretical results are provided to characterize the detection and isolation capabilities of the proposed distributed scheme.

Distributed fault diagnosis for continuous-time nonlinear systems: The input–output case ☆

Abstract In this paper, some new results on distributed fault diagnosis of continuous-time nonlinear systems with partial state measurements are proposed. By exploiting an overlapping decomposition framework, the dynamics of a nonlinear uncertain large-scale dynamical system is described as the interconnections of several subsystems. Each subsystem is monitored by a Local Fault Diagnoser: a set of local estimators, based on the nominal local dynamic model and on an adaptive approximation of the interconnection and of the fault function, allows to derive a local fault decision. A consensus-based protocol is used in order to improve the detectability and the isolability of faults affecting variables shared among different subsystems because of the overlapping decomposition. A sufficient condition ensuring the convergence of the estimation errors is derived. Finally, possibly non-conservative time-varying threshold functions guaranteeing no false-positive alarms and theoretical results dealing with detectability and isolability sufficient conditions are presented.

A Distributed Networked Approach for Fault Detection of Large-Scale Systems

Networked systems present some key new challenges in the development of fault-diagnosis architectures. This paper proposes a novel distributed networked fault detection methodology for large-scale interconnected systems. The proposed formulation incorporates a synchronization methodology with a filtering approach in order to reduce the effect of measurement noise and time delays on the fault detection performance. The proposed approach allows the monitoring of multirate systems, where asynchronous and delayed measurements are available. This is achieved through the development of a virtual sensor scheme with a model-based resynchronization algorithm and a delay compensation strategy for distributed fault-diagnostic units. The monitoring architecture exploits an adaptive approximator with learning capabilities for handling uncertainties in the interconnection dynamics. A consensus-based estimator with time-varying weights is introduced, for improving fault detectability in the case of variables shared among more than one subsystem. Furthermore, time-varying threshold functions are designed to prevent false-positive alarms. Analytical fault detectability sufficient conditions are derived, and extensive simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the distributed fault detection technique.

Plug-and-Play Fault Detection and Control-Reconfiguration for a Class of Nonlinear Large-Scale Constrained Systems

This paper deals with a novel Plug-and-Play (PnP) architecture for the control and monitoring of Large-Scale Systems (LSSs). The proposed approach integrates a distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy with a distributed Fault Detection (FD) architecture and methodology in a PnP framework. The basic concept is to use the FD scheme as an autonomous decision support system: once a fault is detected, the faulty subsystem can be unplugged to avoid the propagation of the fault in the interconnected LSS. Analogously, once the issue has been solved, the disconnected subsystem can be re-plugged-in. PnP design of local controllers and detectors allow these operations to be performed safely, i.e., without spoiling stability and constraint satisfaction for the whole LSS. The PnP distributed MPC is derived for a class of nonlinear LSSs and an integrated PnP distributed FD architecture is proposed. Simulation results in two paradigmatic examples show the effectiveness and the potential of the general methodology.

A distributed fault detection methodology for a class of large-scale uncertain input-output discrete-time nonlinear systems

This paper extends very recent results on a distributed fault diagnosis methodology for nonlinear uncertain large-scale discrete-time dynamical systems to the case of partial state measurement. The large scale system being monitored is modeled, following a divide et impera approach, as the interconnection of several subsystems that are allowed to overlap sharing some state components. Each subsystem has its own Local Fault Diagnoser: the local detection is based on the knowledge of the local subsystem dynamic model and of an adaptive approximation of the interconnection with neighboring subsystems. A consensus-based estimator is used in order to improve the detectability of faults affecting variables shared among different subsystems. Time-varying threshold functions guaranteeing no false-positive alarms and analytical fault detectability sufficient conditions are presented as well.

Fault Diagnosis and control-reconfiguration in Large-Scale Systems: a Plug-and-Play approach

This paper deals with a novel Plug-and-Play (PnP) architecture for the control and monitoring of Large-Scale Systems (LSSs). The proposed approach integrates a distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy with a distributed Fault Detection (FD) methodology for a class of nonlinear LSS in a PnP framework. The basic concept is to use the FD scheme as an autonomous decision support system: once a fault is detected, the faulty subsystem can be unplugged to avoid the propagation of the fault in the interconnected LSS. Analogously, once the issue has been solved, the disconnected subsystem can be re-plugged-in. PnP design of local controllers and detectors allow these operations to be performed safely, i.e. without spoiling stability and constraint satisfaction for the whole LSS.

Decentralized state estimation for heterogeneous multi-agent systems

The paper proposes a decentralized state estimation method for the control of multi-agent networked systems, where the goal is the tracking of arbitrary setpoint functions. The cooperative agents are partitioned into independent robots, providing the control inputs, and dependent robots, controlled by local interaction laws. The proposed state estimation algorithm allows the independent robots to estimate the state of the dependent robots in a completely decentralized way. To do that, it is necessary for each independent robot to estimate the control input components computed by the other independent robots, without requiring communication among the independent robots. The decentralized state estimator, including an input estimator, is developed and the convergence properties are studied. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Distributed fault detection for uncertain nonlinear systems: A network delay compensation strategy

This paper proposes a delay compensation strategy for a distributed fault detection architecture, allowing to manage delays and packet losses in the communication network between the Local Fault Diagnosers. A novel consensus-based estimator with time-varying weights is introduced, permitting to improve detectability in the case of variables shared among more than one subsystem. In the consensus protocol, at each step each agent uses only the information given by the agent and the communication link which are more reliable at that time. The convergence of the proposed estimator is demonstrated and analytical conditions for detectability are derived.

Stochastic Fault Detection in a plug-and-play scenario

This paper proposes a novel stochastic Fault Detection (FD) approach for the monitoring of Large-Scale Systems (LSSs) in a Plug-and-Play (PnP) scenario. The proposed architecture considers stochastic bounds on the measurement noises and modeling uncertainties, providing probabilistic time-varying FD thresholds with guaranteed false alarms probability levels. The monitored LSS consists of several interconnected subsystems and the designed FD architecture is able to manage plugging-in of novel subsystems and un-plugging of existing ones. Moreover, the proposed PnP approach can perform the unplugging of faulty subsystems in order to avoid the propagation of faults in the interconnected LSS. Analogously, once the issue has been solved, the disconnected subsystem can be re-plugged-in. The reconfiguration processes involve only local operations of neighboring subsystems, thus allowing a scalable architecture. A consensus approach is used for the estimation of variables shared among more than one subsystem; a method is proposed to define the time-varying consensus weights in order to allow PnP operations and to minimize at each step the variance of the uncertainty of the FD thresholds. Simulation results on a Power Network application show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Distributed Fault Diagnosis for Input-Output Continuous-Time Nonlinear Systems

Abstract In this paper, new results on distributed fault diagnosis of continuous–time nonlinear systems with partial state measurements are proposed. Following an overlapping decomposition framework, the dynamics of a nonlinear uncertain large-scale dynamical systems is described as the interconnection of several subsystems. Each subsystem is monitored by its own Local Fault Diagnoser, based on a set of local estimators. A consensus-based protocol is used to improve the detectability and the isolability of faults affecting variables shared among different subsystems because of the overlapping decomposition. A sufficient condition assuring the convergence of the estimation errors is derived. Time-varying threshold functions guaranteeing no false-positive alarms and theoretical results containing detectability and isolability conditions are presented.