A review of the diagnosability of control systems with applications to spacecraft

Abstract

To achieve the safe, reliable autonomous operation of spacecraft, research on the fault diagnosis of control systems has attracted the attention of engineers and academicians throughout the aerospace field. Diagnosability can characterize the fault diagnosis capability of control systems. Connecting diagnosability analysis to the design of a spacecraft control system’s structure and diagnosis method can fundamentally improve the system’s fault diagnosis capability, improving the safety and reliability of autonomous spacecraft operation. In this paper, the diagnosability of spacecraft control systems is systematically studied from five perspectives: necessity, the current research status, the connotation, a novel index system and current development trends of diagnosability. First, the current status of spacecraft reliability analysis and reliability-based design is briefly reviewed, and existing problems are described, highlighting the advantages and importance of diagnosability research. Furthermore, the basic concepts of diagnosability are briefly introduced. By analyzing the current status of existing research on the diagnosability of both general and spacecraft control systems, the application scope of the diagnosability of spacecraft control systems is summarized. Moreover, the definition and influencing factors of the diagnosability of spacecraft control systems are presented to refine existing concepts, and a universal evaluation index system is proposed for the diagnosability of spacecraft control systems to further enhance the applicability of diagnosability evaluation and diagnosability-based design to spacecraft. Finally, the existing shortcomings and future development trends of diagnosability research for spacecraft control systems are discussed.