Disclosed herein is a dedicated pump controller apparatus for installation dedicated to and proximate a single fuel pump, comprising: at least one processor; data memory; and at least one fuel pump communications interface for communicating with said fuel pump. The process-based model is conditioned with conditioning information associated with the geological volume of interest. If the gate current density is found to be higher than a specified gate current density criterion, then the gate oxide is deemed to defective and is scrapped.