Integrating reliability analysis and diagnostics for complex technical systems

Creating diagnostic information for complex technical systems has become a very costly and challenging process. Separation of the process of creating diagnostics from the processes of design and of reliability analysis (as is the default in many companies) means that reliability analysis work is often ignored or repeated by engineers creating diagnostics. The current paper explains the basic concepts behind the creation of diagnostic systems, and considers the extent to which reliability analysis results can be used to make the production of diagnostics more efficient. In particular, it considers how the automated production of reliability analyses can be fed into the process of creating diagnostic systems.