Real time state assessment and fault diagnosis KBS for space power systems

Research was conducted to develop a real time fault monitoring and diagnosis knowledge-base system (KBS) for space power systems. The fault monitoring and diagnosis knowledge-based system has been developed using the AMPS (Autonomously Managed Power System) test facility currently installed at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSEC), however the basic approach taken for this research is rather generic and should be applicable for other space power systems. The developed KBS is entitled "AMPERES" (Autonomously Managed Power-System Extendible Real-time Expert System). A knowledge based control strategy and its supporting knowledge representation scheme were developed to effectively monitor and diagnose the operating state of AMPS which is monitored by various sensors. A sensor value validation method explores the embedded redundancies of the sensors in AMPS and maximizes their utilization in validating sensor values. A data structure called the Disturbance Interrelation Analysis Graph (DIAG) formalizes the inference scheme of the fault diagnosis task and explicitly shows the diagnosis reasoning paths. The design of AMPERES is presented with an emphasis on the DIAG formalism and implementation.