A signal alignment algorithm for failure detection systems

A real-time technique for aligning two signals which differ by a time shift has been developed. It is useful in failure detection systems in which small time shifts in signals to be compared are present due to hardware limitations and not because of failures. The technique was tested experimentally in a failure detection system for a mechanical manipulator. It successfully aligned and compared velocity signals generated by tachometers to signals generated by rate gyroscopes with much lower bandwidths. Such a comparison was impossible without the developed technique, because the signals generated by the slow-responding gyroscopes were phase shifted with respect to the signals generated by the fast-responding tachometers.