A bank of observers is usually needed to detect and isolate faults (FD
I) with robust observer-based approaches. In order to improve the real
-time property of the FDI system, the total order of the observers sho
uld be designed as small as possible. In this paper, two means that co
ntribute to the reduction of the observer orders are studied. First of
all, an approach to the design of minimal order robust FDI observers
for given fault sensitivity conditions is developed. The minimal obser
ver order is revealed as a function of a minimal row index of a matrix
pencil deduced from known system matrices. Then, the possibility and
approach of realizing multiple fault sensitivity conditions with a sin
gle robust FDI observer is addressed. A sufficient condition is obtain
ed. The decision logic design is also studied in this paper. A sequent
ial decision logic is proposed, which can be applied to time critical
situations where running all the FDI observers in real time is not pos
sible. By revisiting an example taken from literature, the advantages
of the presented techniques are illustrated.