A prerequisite for the feasibility of the technique of observer-based
fault detection and isolation (FDI) in dynamic systems is a satisfacto
ry robustness with respect to modelling uncertainties. This paper surv
eys the most relevant methods to increase the robustness in both the s
tage of residual generation and residual evaluation. Among these metho
ds are the generalized observer scheme, the robust parity space check,
the unknown input and H(infinity) observer scheme, the decorrelation
filter, and the concept of adaptive threshold selection. It is pointed
out that the unknown input observer concept, which provides perfect d
ecoupling from the modelling errors or its optimal approximation with
the aid of H(infinity) techniques, constitutes a general framework of
robust residual generation that generalizes and unifies numerous other
approaches, among them the parity space and detection filter approach
. It is further shown that this FDI method can even be applied to a ce
rtain class of nonlinear systems.