Edge Intelligence-Driven Bearing Fault Diagnosis: A Lightweight Anti-Noise Diagnostic Framework

Edge intelligence enables significant latency reduction and enhances the timeliness of model-based fault diagnosis. However, existing deep learning-driven bearing fault diagnosis models are ill-suited for deployment on edge devices, primarily due to three critical limitations: (1) Lightweight models typically exhibit inadequate anti-noise performance, failing to meet the reliability requirements of real-world engineering scenarios. (2) Models with superior anti-noise capabilities often demand high-performance hardware for operation, thereby restricting their deployment on resource-constrained edge devices. (3) These models adopt a fixed input length, which makes it difficult to guarantee diagnostic accuracy across diverse application scenarios—attributed to variations in sampling frequencies, bearing parameters, and other relevant factors. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a lightweight anti-noise diagnostic framework (LADF) for edge-intelligent bearing fault diagnosis in complex engineering environments. The LADF comprises three core modules: a dynamic input module (DIM), a lightweight network module (LNM), and a denoising branch. Specifically, the DIM is designed based on the envelope spectrum, leveraging its inherent demodulation characteristics to dynamically adapt to input signals across diverse scenarios. Group convolution and layer normalization are employed to construct the LNM, ensuring robust diagnostic performance while achieving efficient computation. The denoising branch constrains the feature extractor via a loss function, enabling it to learn generalized fault features under varying noise environments and thereby enhancing the anti-noise capability of the framework. Finally, the proposed LADF is validated through test rig experiments on two datasets of train axle box bearings. Comparative analysis with state-of-the-art models demonstrates that the LADF achieves superior diagnostic stability and anti-noise performance while maintaining a more lightweight architecture, making it well-suited for edge deployment in railway bearing fault diagnosis.