1. A method for detecting out-of-range conditions in an apparatus having a monitoring system, said monitoring system storing a support vector machine feature space having a boundary substantially separating a first class of data from a second class of data, said method comprising: receiving an element of operational data from an independent sensor associated with said apparatus; comparing said element of operational data to said boundary; and if said element of operational data is within said second class of data, determining that said element of operational data represents an out-of-range condition for said apparatus.