Title: A distributed reconfigurable architecture for fault-tolerant systems

Authors: Mathieu Bouvier, Ian Yellowley

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada

Abstract: The authors present an architecture and associated software framework that together attempt to provide a foundation for the design of fault-tolerant systems for monitoring and control. The framework attempts to minimise the increased cost of redundancy by adopting the idea of dynamic reconfiguration. The authors discuss the basic principles involved and present the details of application to a simplified fly-by-wire (teleoperator) system. The motivation underlying the development of the approach and the opportunities afforded by such systems in the general area of industrial automation are also briefly discussed.

Keywords: fault tolerance; dynamic reconfiguration; distributed control systems; Forth; firmware; process monitoring; teleoperation; industrial automation; fault tolerant systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2006.008792

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.8 No.1/2/3, pp.141 - 158

Published online: 25 Jan 2006 *

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