Combining Multiple Diagnostic Trouble Codes into a Single Decision Tree

Recent advances in design of automotive systems have yielded to vehicles that now include several complex electronic devices. They are able to log hundreds of diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) for different malfunctioning conditions with a corresponding fault tree built for each code. However, many of these active codes can have common causes which make diagnostic a very complex task. Using binary decision diagrams (BDD), we propose a strategy for combining individual BDDs developed for each DTC into a single one. This strategy takes into account sets of both active and non-active DTCs representing the current diagnostic scenario. The results show a significant decrease in the total diagnostic cost.