An optimal sensor placement algorithm taking into account diagnosability specifications

Suitable installed sensors in a industrial process is a necessary condition for fault diagnosis. Sensor placement for diagnosis purposes is to study which process variables have to be measured to satisfy diagnosis specifications (detectability, discriminability and diagnosability). This paper presents a method based on the study of the structural model properties and the Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition. Due to the use of structural models, the proposed approach can be applied to a wide variety of system (linear, algebraic, dynamics, etc.). Assuming that the cost of placing a sensor for each possible variable is defined, this method finds the minimal cost sensor configuration according to the diagnosability criteria. This method does not require the computation of testable subsystems.