Fall Seminar Series - October 6, 2005
University of Minnesota
School of Statistics
College of Liberal Arts

Control Charts for Detecting Changes in a Covariance Matrix of a Multivariate Normal Process

Arthur Yeh
Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research
Bowling Green State University

Thursday, October 6, 2005
3:30 PM, 115 Ford Hall
Minneapolis, East Bank Campus
Social at 3:00 PM, 300 Ford Hall

Abstract

The problem under consideration is constructing statistical control charts for detecting changes in a covariance matrix from a multivariate normal process. I will discuss some of the developments in the last 15 years. Detailed discussion will be given to three recent works which I have been involved with.

There are three important considerations based on which a control chart is constructed. The first consideration deals with the methodology the control chart uses for combining sampled information. Three such methodologies are Shewhart, CUSUM and EWMA based statistics. The second consideration is the amount of data that are available for constructing the control chart. Three such possibilities exist: (1) the subgroup size (n) is larger than the total number (p) of quality characteristics of interest; (ii) only individual observations (n = 1) are available; and (iii) 1 < n < p. The third consideration relates to the types of changes in the covariance matrix the control chart is designed to detect. It could be changes in the generalized variance (the determinant), or in the total variation (the trace) of the covariance matrix, or in some of the p(p+1)/2 parameters of the covariance matrix. Examining existing works through these considerations allows us to have a better understanding of what has been accomplished so far and what future research may be needed.