METHOD, DEVICES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR ASSISTING IN THE DIAGNOSTIC OF AN AIRCRAFT SYSTEM, USING FAILURE CONDITION GRAPHS

• US 20120101793A1
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus, Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Original Assignee: Airbus, Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Inventors: Cheriere, Vincent, Abelin, Christophe, Roger, Jeremy, Vilalta-Estrada, Laia
• Granted Patent: US 8,996,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/8
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0248 Causal models, e.g. fault tree; digraphs; qualitative physics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

The invention in particular has as an object aid in diagnosis of a system of an aircraft, comprising a plurality of sub-systems at least one of which comprises means for monitoring and notification of at least one detected event, using graphs of feared events. After a message of notification of occurrence of the said detected event has been received (500), a set of feared events linked to this message is created (510) from the said graph of feared events, and logic expressions—using as operands elements of the system coherent with the feared events of the said set—are constructed (515) according to the logic links represented in the said graph of feared events. A group of feared events then is created (520) according to elements of the said logic expressions. The minimal vertexes of the logic expressions associated with the feared events of the said group are calculated and form a diagnosis of the said system.

Claims

1. Computer method for establishing an aid in diagnosis of a complex system of an aircraft (700, 800) comprising a plurality of sub-systems (705, 805), at least one sub-system of the said plurality of sub-systems comprising means for monitoring and notification of at least one detected event, this method being characterized in that:

it uses a graph of feared events (200, 300) at least partially modeling the said complex system, the said graph of feared events comprising a plurality of peaks (205-250), each peak of the said plurality of peaks being connected by a logic implication relationship to at least one other peak of the said plurality of peaks, the said plurality of peaks comprising at least,

one peak representing a feared event (205, 210); and

,

one peak representing at least one element (245, 250) of the said complex system, the said at least one element being able to break down;

it comprises the following steps,

receiving (500) at least one message of notification of occurrence of the said at least one detected event;

creating (510) a set of feared events, each feared event of the said set of feared events being associated with a peak of the said graph of feared events linked to the said at least one received notification message;

for each feared event of the said set of feared events, constructing (515), from the said graph of feared events, at least one logic expression leading to the said feared event, the said at least one logic expression being based on elements of the said complex system;

creating (520) at least one group of feared events of the said set of feared events, at least one element being common to two logic expressions linked to two separate feared events of the said at least one group, the logic expressions associated with the said feared events of the said at least one group representing a diagnosis relating to the said at least one detected event.

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of determining (525) minimal vertexes of the logic expressions of the feared events of the said at least one group, the said minimal vertexes forming minimal diagnoses of the said diagnosis relating to the said at least one detected event.

3. Method according to claim 1 or claim 2, the said graph of feared events further comprising at least one peak representing a message (400, 405) associated with the said at least one detected event, the method further comprising a step of identifying (505), in the said graph of feared events, at least one peak representing a message according to the said at least one received message, each feared event of the said set of feared events being associated with a peak of the said graph of feared events linked to the said at least one notification message via the said at least one identified peak.

4. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a step of displaying, storing and/or transmitting the said diagnosis relating to the said at least one detected event.

5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, according to which the said graph of feared events comprises at least one sub-graph of feared events, the said at least one sub-graph of feared events at least partially modeling a sub-system of the said plurality of sub-systems.

6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, according to which the said graph of feared events further comprises at least one peak representing a logic operation, at least one of the said logic expressions comprising a logic operation represented by a peak of the said graph of feared events.

7. Computer program comprising instructions adapted for the implementation of each of the steps of the method according to any one of the preceding claims when the said program is run on a computer.

8. Maintenance system (715) for an aircraft comprising a computer comprising means for implementing each of the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

9. Maintenance system according to the preceding claim, further comprising means (735) for transmitting the said diagnosis to a distant system.

10. Aircraft comprising the system according to claim 8 or claim 9.

11. Data processing system (820) comprising means for receiving information items relating to at least one message of notification of occurrence of at least one event detected by monitoring and notification means of a sub-system of a complex system of an aircraft (800) comprising a plurality of sub-systems (705, 805) and a computer comprising means for implementing each of the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.