An inferencing structure for MPO-based decentralized dynamic fault diagnosis

This paper addresses the problem of fault diagnosis in discrete event systems through a decentralized structure. Within the proposed decentralized diagnosis structure, local most permissive bbservers (MPOs) are employed as diagnosis tools, and an effective protocol is proposed to coordinate local MPOs to infer diagnosis information. It is shown that the proposed technique can diagnose fault occurrences subjected to proper sensing decisions. A sufficient condition on sensing decision policies is derived for diagnosis of faults in a decentralized setting. Further, it is proven that the proposed decentralized structure has less complexity than a centralized structure. The details of the proposed technique are illustrated by applying the developed method to a manufacturing system.