New telemetry monitoring paradigm with Novelty Detection

Abstract

Currently, automatic telemetry monitoring is performed by Out-of-Limits (OOL) alarms. This approach consists of defining an upper and lower threshold so that when a measurement goes above the upper limit or below the lower one, an alarm is triggered. We discuss the limitations of the Out-Of-Limits approach and propose a new monitoring paradigm based on Novelty Detection. The proposed monitoring approach can detect novel behaviors, which are often signatures of anomalies, very early - allowing engineers in some cases to react before the anomaly develops. A prototype implementing this monitoring approach has been implemented and applied to several ESA missions. The operational assessment from the XMM-Newton operations team is presented. © 2012 by European Space Agency.