Wireless condition monitoring and embedded novelty detection

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks are increasingly employed in a range of applications. Condition Monitoring in particular can benefit from the introduction of distributed wireless sensing solutions, operating with a high degree of autonomy. Wireless condition monitoring can extend the toolset available to the lifecycle management of engineering assets, offering ease of installation, flexibility, portability and accessibility. A significant hurdle for the adoption of wireless condition monitoring solutions in industry is related to the extent that such solutions can operate over long time periods, while providing adequate monitoring. At the application level of sensor nodes, recent programmable wireless modules are able to host intelligent services exhibiting some form of smart behavior that enables them to recognize events that deserve further attention. Thus, engineering assets equipped with embedded novelty detection capabilities exhibit some level of selfawareness, much needed to support enhanced and sustainable operation. Investing in sensor logic and its software implementations upgrades wireless modules to small model building agents capable of providing strategic advantages over static sensing infrastructures. The configurability and the programmable nature of recent maintenance management techniques and their decision support algorithms can now be ported to software agents hosted on tiny devices right in the operating environment of each asset. In this paper we review current enabling technologies, with respect to implementing ubiquitous maintenance solutions, and we study the design requirements for developing Novelty Detection techniques, as intelligent middleware components embedded on a single sensor module. On the basis of the identified design requirements, a conceptual architecture for the development of wireless sensor - embedded intelligence is outlined. © Springer 2010.