Software Diagnostics and Observability Institute

From proof testing, strain measurement, and failure analysis to nondestructive evaluation, structural health monitoring, digital twins, and AI-assisted prognosis

PDF: https://www.dumpanalysis.org/files/History_of_Technical_Diagnostics_Obse...

Consider a bearing that becomes hot. The same diagnostic sign may result from poor lubrication, excessive load, misalignment, or a measurement problem. We need additional evidence to distinguish these explanations. The history of technical diagnostics shows how we acquired the methods for doing so.

In History of Technical Diagnostics, Observability, and Debugging, we follow the development of inspection, proof testing, measurement, and failure analysis. Here we consider how mechanics and materials science supplied explanations, how nondestructive examination extended access to internal condition, and how monitoring added operating history to the investigation. The scope includes machines, industrial plants, transport, civil structures, and cultural objects, with further developments in prognostics, digital twins, and AI-assisted analysis.

Throughout this history, we distinguish diagnostic artifacts, patterns, and mechanisms. A vibration spectrum, a fracture surface, and a maintenance record provide different views of the same problem. We can compare these views, formulate hypotheses, and select further examinations. Connections with our pattern-oriented software diagnostics help organize this reasoning and show why an investigation may need to return to earlier observations when new evidence becomes available.

The 35 chapters are accompanied by 129 references, a selected chronology, a glossary, and an evidence taxonomy. Together, they provide a historical framework for understanding how observations become diagnostic explanations and how methods from different fields contribute to that process.