Optimal Bayesian fault prediction scheme for a partially observable system subject to random failure

A new method for predicting failures of a partially observable system is presented. System deterioration is modeled as a hidden, 3-state continuous time homogeneous Markov process. States 0 and 1, which are not observable, represent good and warning conditions, respectively. Only the failure state 2 is assumed to be observable. The system is subject to condition monitoring at equidistant, discrete time epochs. The vector observation process is stochastically related to the system state. The objective is to develop a method for optimally predicting impending system failures. Model parameters are estimated using EM algorithm and a cost-optimal Bayesian fault prediction scheme is proposed. The method is illustrated using real data obtained from spectrometric analysis of oil samples collected at regular time epochs from transmission units of heavy hauler trucks used in mining industry. A comparison with other methods is given, which illustrates effectiveness of our approach. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.