Computer-aided design of avionic diagnostics algorithms

Describes the application of a computer-aided design tool developed to complement an alternative approach to diagnostics design using the failure signatures or syndromes. The computer-aided design tool can analyze fault-tolerant architectural networks, provide network design guidance, and generate syndrome data for inclusion in the embedded software diagnostic algorithms. The tool accepts as input a graphical description of the system to be analyzed and produces as output a complete failure dependency analysis and the syndrome vectors needed for a table look-up implementation of the diagnostics. The failure syndrome also provides analysis of the theoretical performance potential of the system. Additional benefits are that transient and intermittent failures can be conveniently handled, and the method can be extended to diagnose multiple sequential failure conditions