Failure detection and response

A method of configuring a vehicle to detect and respond to a failure of one or more vehicle components, the method comprising:

• constructing a state variable analytical model for a system under monitoring (SUM);
• identifying system sensors that can be used to measure at least some state variables of the state variable analytical model;
• developing a time synchronization process that is particular to the identified system sensors, wherein the time synchronization process enables sensor values obtained by the system sensors to be adjusted so as to obtain adjusted sensor values, wherein the adjusted sensor values conform to a unified sample time;
• developing a parameter estimation process that can be used to obtain a present state transition matrix estimate and a present state input matrix estimate, wherein the parameter estimation process is developed based on the constructed state variable analytical model;
• and
• configuring vehicle electronics of the vehicle to carry out the parameter estimation process and the time synchronization process.

A vehicle failure detection system, comprising:

• a system under monitoring (SUM) that includes one or more vehicle electronic system components;
• one or more onboard vehicle sensors;
• a failure detection module that includes:
• a failure detection system (FDS) signal processor;
• and
• a memory containing a computer program;
• and
• a communication link between the failure detection model and the SUM;
• wherein the failure detection module is configured to execute the computer program that is stored in the memory of the vehicle failure detection system using the failure detection signal processor, and wherein execution of the computer program by the failure detection signal processor causes the failure detection module to:
• receive system input regarding the one or more vehicle electronic system components;
• determine a system state through use of the one or more onboard vehicle sensors, wherein the system state concerns the one or more state variables;
• obtain a nominal state transition matrix and a nominal state input matrix;
• calculate a present state transition matrix estimate and a present state input matrix estimate based on the nominal state transition matrix, the nominal state input matrix, the system input, and a sampled state derivative;
• detect a failure of at least one of the vehicle electronic system components based on one or more component parameters of the present state transition matrix estimate and/or the present state input matrix estimate, wherein the one or more component parameters pertain to the at least one vehicle electronic system component;
• and
• perform a vehicle action in response to the detection of the failure.