A system and method for predicting failures of machinery such as a gas turbine. The system and method utilizes computer-based system to annotate historical data locate a prior failure event. Data associated with sensor readings prior to the failure event is annotated to note that it is likely associated with a failure and is compared to normal operating condition data. A fast boxes algorithm is used to learn the location of the pre-event data (positive class, minority group) with respect to the normal operation data (negative class, majority group). An evaluation is performed to analyze the discriminatory strength of the pre-event data with respect to the normal data, and if a relatively strong difference is found, the associated pre-event data is stored and used as a “symptom” to monitor the on-going performance of a machine and predict the possibility of an unexpected failure days before it would otherwise occur.
Please help me write a proper abstract based on the patent claims. CLAIM: 1. A method for predicting failure events of a gas turbine in a power plant, comprising: obtaining a set of historical time series data associated with a recognized failure event of a gas turbine being studied, the historical data comprising a set of sensor readings collected for a time period prior to the recognized event, defined as a pre-event time period; selecting a subset of sensors to be analyzed and defining a set of pre-event data as the sensor readings from the selected subset of sensors collected during the pre-event time period; comparing the pre-event data to a set of normal operation data; ascertaining a level of discrimination between the pre-event data and the normal operation data, and if the level of discrimination is above a given threshold; identifying the pre-event data as a symptom pattern for use in predicting a future failure of the gas turbine being studied. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of obtaining a set of historical data includes annotating historical sensor reading data and searching the annotated data to locate the recognized failure event along a time line of the set of historical data. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of obtaining a set of historical data further includes cleaning the set of historical data to remove outliers and artifacts from the set of sensor readings. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selecting a subset of sensors includes the steps of: for each sensor, calculating an area-under-receiver-operating-curve (AROC) value comparing pre-event data to normal operation data; defining a threshold AUROC value suitable for predicting failures of the gas turbine being studied; and selecting each sensor having an AUROC value greater than the defined threshold. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of comparing the pre-event data to a set of normal operation data includes the steps of: for each selected sensor, utilizing a fast boxes algorithm to learn the location of the pre-event data with respect to the normal event, clustering the pre-event data into a predetermined number of rectangular boxes; and defining a set of edges of the rectangular boxes as a set of boundaries separating the pre-event data from the normal operation data. 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the fast boxes algorithm used in the comparing step includes the steps of: clustering the pre-event data into a set of K boxes in a state space, each box defined by a rectangle with edges formed as parallel pairs of axes; introducing the normal event data into the state space and assigning a predetermined weight c to all normal event data points closest to the edges of the boxes; and expanding the boundaries of each box by a factor of β, applying a negative weight of c to obtain an optimum expansion to create a final set of box edges defining boundaries between the clusters of pre-event data and normal operation data. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein K is selected from the range of 1 to 4, β is selected from the range of 1 to 4, and c is selected from the range of 0.1 to 1.0. 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of ascertaining a level of discrimination includes: defining a threshold level of discrimination; and applying a metric to the state space to determine if the final set of box edges boundaries exceeds the threshold level of discrimination. 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the applied metric is the “area under hull convex ROC” (AUH). 10. The method of claim 9 wherein an AUH threshold of least 0.5 is used as the threshold level of discrimination. 11. A system for predicting failure events of a gas turbine comprising a database of historical sensor readings; a performance predictor component in communication with the database of historical sensor readings, the performance predictor component include a program storage device and a processor, the program storage device embodying in a fixed tangible medium a set of program instructions executable by the processor to perform the method steps of: retrieving a set of historical time series data associated with a recognized failure event of a gas turbine being studied, the historical data comprising a set of sensor readings stored in the database of historical sensor readings data; selecting a subset of sensors to be analyzed and defining a set of pre-event data as the sensor readings from the selected subset of sensors collected during the pre-event time period; comparing the pre-event data to a set of normal operation data; ascertaining a level of discrimination between the pre-event data and the normal operation data, and if the level of discrimination is above a given threshold; identifying the pre-event data as a symptom pattern for use in predicting a future failure of the gas turbine being studied; and a database for storing the symptom patterns identified by the performance predictor component. 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the step of obtaining a set of historical data by annotating historical sensor reading data and searching the annotated data to locate the recognized failure event along a time line of the set of historical data. 13. The system of claim 11 wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the step of cleaning the set of historical data to remove outliers and artifacts from the set of sensor readings. 14. The system of claim 11 wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the step of selecting a subset of sensors by: for each sensor, calculating an area-under-receiver-operating-curve (AROC) value comparing pre-event data to normal operation data; defining a threshold AUROC value suitable for predicting failures of the gas turbine being studied; and selecting each sensor having an AUROC value greater than the defined threshold. 15. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the step of comparing the pre-event data to a set of normal operation data by: for each selected sensor, utilizing a fast boxes algorithm to learn the location of the pre-event data with respect to the normal event, clustering the pre-event data into a predetermined number of rectangular boxes; and defining a set of edges of the rectangular boxes as a set of boundaries separating the pre-event data from the normal operation data. 16. The system as defined by claim 15, wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the fast boxes algorithm by: clustering the pre-event data into a set of K boxes in a state space, each box defined by a rectangle with edges formed as parallel pairs of axes; introducing the normal event data into the state space and assigning a predetermined weight c to all normal event data points closest to the edges of the boxes; and expanding the boundaries of each box by a factor of β, applying a negative weight of c to obtain an optimum expansion to create a final set of box edges defining boundaries between the clusters of pre-event data and normal operation data. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further instruct the processor to perform the step the step of ascertaining a level of discrimination by: defining a threshold level of discrimination; and applying a metric to the state space to determine if the final set of box edges boundaries exceeds the threshold level of discrimination. 18. A method for predicting an unexpected shutdown failure of a gas turbine in a power plant, comprising: obtaining a set of historical time series data associated with a recognized shutdown failure event of a gas turbine being studied, the historical data comprising a set of sensor readings collected for a time period prior to the recognized shutdown event, defined as a pre-event time period annotating historical sensor reading data and searching the annotated data to locate the recognized failure event along a time line of the set of historical data and cleaning the set of historical data to remove outliers and artifacts from the set of sensor readings; selecting a subset of sensors to be analyzed by calculating, for each sensor, an area-under-receiver-operating-curve (AROC) value comparing pre-event data to normal operation data, defining a threshold AUROC value suitable for predicting failures of the gas turbine being studied and selecting each sensor having an AUROC value greater than the defined threshold and defining a set of pre-event data as the sensor readings from the selected subset of sensors collected during the pre-event time period; utilizing a fast boxes algorithm to learn the location of the pre-event data with respect to the normal event data, the fast boxes algorithm operating to: (1) cluster the pre-event data into a set of K boxes in a state space, each box defined by a rectangle with edges formed as parallel pairs of axes; (2) introduce the normal event data into the state space and assign a predetermined weight c to all normal event data points closest to the edges of the boxes; (3) expand the boundaries of each box by a factor of β, applying a negative weight of c to obtain an optimum expansion; and (4) define the optimum expansion as a final set of box edges defining boundaries between the clusters of pre-event data and normal operation data; ascertaining a level of discrimination between the pre-event data and the normal operation data, and if the level of discrimination is above a given threshold; identifying the pre-event data as a symptom pattern for use in predicting a future shutdown failure of the gas turbine being studied. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of ascertaining a level of discrimination includes: defining a threshold level of discrimination; and applying a metric to the state space to determine if the final set of box edges boundaries exceeds the threshold level of discrimination. 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the applied metric is the “area under hull convex ROC” (AUH).