Sensor faults can impede the functionality of monitoring and control systems for bioprocesses. Hence, suitable systems need to be developed to validate the sensor readings prior to their use in monitoring and control systems. This study presents a novel approach for online validation of sensor readings. The basic idea is to compare the original sensor reading with predictions for this sensor reading based on the remaining sensor network's information. Deviations between original and predicted sensor readings are used to indicate sensor faults. Since especially batch processes show varying lengths and different phases (e.g., lag and exponential phase), prediction models that are dependent on process time are necessary. The binary particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to select the best prediction models for each time step. A regularization approach is utilized to avoid overfitting. Models with high complexity and prediction errors are penalized, resulting in optimal predictions for the sensor reading at each time step (5% mean relative prediction error). The sensor reliability is calculated by the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the distribution of model-based predictions and the distribution of a moving window of original sensor readings (moving window size = 10 readings). The developed system allows for the online detection of sensor faults. This is especially important when sensor data are used as input to soft sensors for critical quality attributes or the process control system. The proof-of-concept is exemplarily shown for a turbidity sensor that is used to monitor a Pichia pastoris-batch process.
Keywords: Fault detection; Online validation; Particle swarm optimization; Sensor fault; Sensor network.