Methods And Systems For Identifying Associated Events in an Aircraft

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining sensor data that includes voltage measurements of at least one electrical bus on an aircraft over time;
• obtaining fault code data that includes fault codes signaled over time by a plurality of aircraft subsystems on the aircraft, wherein each fault code of the fault codes is associated with a respective aircraft subsystem of the plurality of aircraft subsystems that, upon detecting an error, caused the respective aircraft subsystem to output the fault code;
• calculating a voltage threshold that, when exceeded by the voltage measurements, indicates an anomalous voltage measurement in the sensor data;
• generating, from the sensor data and the fault code data, a set of events, wherein each event of the set of events occurs over a time interval over which either (i) the sensor data indicates the anomalous voltage measurement or (ii) a fault code associated with a particular aircraft subsystem of the plurality of aircraft subsystems was signaled;
• calculating a value of statistical dependence between the set of events, wherein the value of statistical dependence between the set of events indicates a likelihood that the set of events are a causal chain of events that occur in a temporal order;
• based on the value of statistical dependence between the set of events exceeding a predetermined threshold, constructing a temporal precursor network representing the set of events as a sequence of related events and further representing the temporal order in which the sequence of related events occurred;
• indexing, in a summary table stored in memory and separate from the sensor data and the fault code data, the sequence of related events and the value of statistical dependence between the set of events;
• and
• controlling a display device to display, on a graphical user interface, the summary table and a visual representation of the temporal precursor network.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of aircraft subsystems on an aircraft;
• and
• a fault diagnostics computing device having a processor and memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining sensor data that includes voltage measurements of at least one electrical bus on the aircraft over time;
• obtaining fault code data that includes fault codes signaled over time by the plurality of aircraft subsystems, wherein each fault code of the fault codes is associated with a respective aircraft subsystem of the plurality of aircraft subsystems that, upon detecting an error, caused the respective aircraft subsystem to output the fault code;
• calculating a voltage threshold that, when exceeded by the voltage measurements, indicates an anomalous voltage measurement in the sensor data;
• generating, from the sensor data and the fault code data, a set of events, wherein each event of the set of events occurs over a time interval over which either (i) the sensor data indicates the anomalous voltage measurement or (ii) a fault code associated with a particular aircraft subsystem of the plurality of aircraft subsystems was signaled;
• calculating a value of statistical dependence between the set of events, wherein the value of statistical dependence between the set of events indicates a likelihood that the set of events are a causal chain of events that occur in a temporal order;
• based on the value of statistical dependence between the set of events exceeding a predetermined threshold, constructing a temporal precursor network representing the set of events as a sequence of related events and further representing the temporal order in which the sequence of related events occurred;
• indexing, in a summary table stored in the memory and separate from the sensor data and the fault code data, the sequence of related events and the value of statistical dependence between the set of events;
• and
• controlling a display device to display, on a graphical user interface, the summary table and a visual representation of the temporal precursor network.