System and method for fault management in lighting systems

1. A method, operable in a processing system, for determining faults in a lighting system, said method comprising:

performing a training phase, said training phrase comprising,

determining a plurality of settings when portions of the lighting system are to be turned-on or turned-off;

obtaining a plurality of samples for each of the plurality of settings;

determining light and/or power statistical parameters associated with said obtained plurality of samples for each of the plurality of settings; and

performing a monitoring phase, said monitoring phase comprising:

obtaining measurement samples for each of the plurality of settings;

determining a parameter associated with the measurement samples;

determining whether said parameter is within a threshold with respect to said statistical parameters for a corresponding one of said plurality of settings;

generating a system error report when said parameter is not within said threshold; and

scheduling maintenance based on the system error report to correct identified faults.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a verification phase on each of said statistical parameters, said verification phase comprising: at least one of a knowledge based system, a rule based system and a model based system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said statistical parameters represent a statistical model.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said statistical model is a Gaussian model represented by a mean and a covariance matrix.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said threshold is dependent upon a required response time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said required response time is dependent upon a sample rate.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether said error report is generated based on one of: a command error and a fault.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining a minimum value among a plurality of said parameters; and

indicating a failure if said minimum value is less than an error threshold value.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said error report includes determining a threshold of a Chi-Squared function by monitoring a number of consecutive errors in the lighting system and a robustness parameter of the lighting system, based on a sampling rate of the measurement samples.

10. An apparatus for determining faults in a lighting system comprising:

a processor in communication with a memory, the memory including code, which when accessed by the processor, causes the processor to:

perform a training phase, said training phrase comprising,

determining a plurality of settings when portions of the lighting system are to be turned-on or turned-off

obtaining a plurality of samples for each of the plurality of settings; and

determining light and/or power statistical parameters associated with said obtained plurality of samples for each of the plurality of settings; and

perform a monitoring phase, said monitoring phase comprising:

obtaining measurement samples for each of a plurality of settings;

determining a parameter associated with the measurement samples;

determining whether said parameter is within a threshold with respect to said statistical parameters for a corresponding one of said plurality of settings; and

generating a system error report when said parameter is not within said threshold; and

scheduling maintenance based on the system error report to correct identified faults.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said processor further accessing said code to:

perform a verification phase on each of said statistical parameters, said verification phase comprising:

at least one of a knowledge based system, a rule based system and a model based system.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said statistical parameters represent a statistical model.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said statistical model is a Gaussian model represented by a mean and a covariance matrix.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said threshold is dependent upon a required response time.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein said required response time is dependent upon a sample rate.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said processor further accessing said code to:

determine whether said error report is generated based on one of: a command error and a fault.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said processor further accessing said code to:

determining a minimum value among a plurality of said parameters; and

indicating a failure if said minimum value is less than an error threshold value.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said plurality of samples in said training phase is obtained by one of: measurement and manual input.

19. A computer-program product comprising a plurality of computer based instructions stored on a non-transitory medium, said computer program product when accessed by a processor causes the processor to:

determine a plurality of settings when portions of the lighting system are to be turned-on or turned-off;

perform a training phase, said training phase generating a light and/or power model representation of a lighting system for each of the plurality of settings;

perform a monitoring phase, wherein a parameter, associated with a setting, obtained during said monitoring phase is compared to statistical parameters representing said model; and

generate a system error report when said parameter is not within said threshold; and

schedule maintenance based on the system error report to correct identified faults.

20. The computer-program product according to claim 19 , wherein said processor further:

performs a validation phase, said validation phase being based on one of: a knowledge based system, a rule based system and a model based system.