Improving Model-based Mode Estimation through Offline Compilation

Many recent and future space missions point to the need for increased autonomy in spacecraft with an emphasis on more capable fault diagnostic systems. The most widely used fault diagnostic systems are rule-based. Rule-based systems have quick response to events and clearly present to engineers the predefined reactions to events. These systems, however, require engineers to manually generate all necessary rules and these do not convey the assumed model the engineers used to generate the rules. Contrarily, model-based systems eliminate the need to manually generate the rules. Most model-based system such as GDE [3], Sherlock [4], and Livingstone [6], however, may not provide quick response and do not specify the rules for engineers to review and verify. Mini-ME addresses the issues of both rule-based and model-based approaches and provides an alternative solution to fault diagnosis. Mini-ME provides quick response by shifting computationally expensive tasks of model-based diagnosis offline. Additionally, it offers the capability to inspect and verify the rules.