On the Connection Assignment Problem of Diagnosable Systems

This paper treats the problem of automatic fault diagnosis for systems with multiple faults. The system is decomposed into n units u <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</inf> , u <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> , . . . , u <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</inf> , where a unit is a well-identifiable portion of the system which cannot be further decomposed for the purpose of diagnosis. By means of a given arrangement of testing links (connection assignment) each unit of the system tests a subset of units, and a proper diagnosis can be arrived at for any diagnosable fault pattern. Methods for optimal assignments are given for instantaneous and sequential diagnosis procedures.