Abstract: This paper presents some approaches on the new applications in fault detection and diagnosis emerged from three powerful concepts: theory of distributed parameter systems, applied to large and complex physical processes; artificial intelligence, with its tools fuzzy logic and neural networks; and the intelligent wireless ad-hoc sensor networks. Even with their limited resources of energy, memory, computational power and bandwidth sensor networks have large and successful applications in the real world. They may be placed in the areas of distributed parameter systems and they may be seen as distributed measuring sensors for the physical variables of distributed parameter systems. Fault detection and diagnosis in distributed parameter systems became more easily and more performing using these concepts. The paper presents some applications in fault detection and diagnosis based on fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks. Fuzzy logic allows the treatment of physical variables by human reasoning on operator knowledge, with fuzzy concepts of membership functions. Neural networks allow treatment of large and complex systems with many variables by learning and extrapolation. Using sensor networks multivariable estimation techniques may be applied in distributed parameter systems.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Prof. Constantin Volosencu graduated in 1981 the Faculty of Electrotechnics, “Traian Vuia” Polytechnic Institute of Timisoara, Romania, as an engineer in automatics and computers and he is doctor in control systems at “Politehnica” University of Timisoara. In present he is professor at “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Faculty of Automatics and Computers, Department of Automatics and Applied Informatics. His research interest is in linear control systems, fuzzy control, neural networks, control of electrical drives, modelling, simulation, identification and sensor networks. He is author of 9 books and more then 100 scientific papers, published at international conferences and journals. He was manager of over 30 national an international research projects.
Constantin Volosencu worked from 1981 to 1990 at “Electrotimis” Enterprise Timisoara, in the field of the control systems for industrial machines, where he developed control equipments for a large scale of machineries, which are the objects of 27 patents.