The Need

Safety-critical systems in industries such as energy, aerospace, industrial automation, and advanced manufacturing are becoming increasingly complex, integrating hardware, software, controls, sensors, and communication networks. Existing fault analysis methods are often domain-specific and require detailed design information or operational data, making them difficult to apply during early-stage system development. As a result, designers can struggle to identify how faults propagate across interconnected components and functions, potentially leaving critical reliability and safety vulnerabilities undiscovered until late in the development cycle.

The Technology

OSU engineers have developed a model-based software platform for automated fault generation, fault propagation analysis, and functional impact assessment in complex engineered systems. Using a structured ontology framework that captures knowledge about components, functions, flows, and fault types, the platform creates digital system representations and simulates how faults may emerge and spread throughout multi-domain systems. By evaluating fault effects early in the design process, the technology helps engineers identify vulnerable system architectures, assess robustness, prioritize monitoring strategies, and improve reliability before physical implementation.

Commercial Applications

• Reliability and safety analysis for nuclear energy, power generation, and grid infrastructure systems
• Design verification and fault management planning for aerospace, defense, and autonomous systems

Benefits/Advantages

• Early-stage fault analysis capability: enables reliability assessment before operational data or detailed implementations are available
• Cross-domain modeling framework: evaluates interactions among hardware, software, controls, and functional behaviors within a unified environment
• Automated fault generation and propagation analysis: reduces reliance on manual expert-driven studies and improves coverage of potential failure scenarios
• Supports system optimization and monitoring design: by identifying critical fault paths and the most informative signals for detection and diagnosis