Integrity-based self-validation test scheduling

Intelligent sensors use functional self-testing to confirm measurement validity; this introduces the potential for false diagnosis and unnecessary corrective intervention. For a sensor in an integrity-monitoring context, it is desirable to select a test-interval to minimize the probability of faulty operation between discrete tests. The scheduling of discrete test intervals is examined as an optimization problem under a reliability-based cost-function. A convenient test-interval guideline, accounting for the operating context of the sensor, is derived for a simple case under limiting assumptions.