Title :
A class of inherently fault tolerant distributed programs
Author :
Bastani, Farokh B. ; Yen, I-Ling ; Chen, Ing-Ray
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Houston Univ., TX, USA
Abstract :
Software for industrial process-control systems, such as nuclear power plant safety control systems and robots, can be very complex because of the large number of cases that must be considered. A design approach is proposed that uses decentralized control concepts, and is based on E.W. Dijkstra´s concept of self-stabilizing systems (1974). This method greatly simplifies the software, so that its correctness can be verified more easily. A simple control system is described for a simulated robot that is tolerant of partial failure of controllers and mechanisms, and permits online repair and enhancement of the control functions.<>
Keywords :
distributed processing; fault tolerant computing; industrial robots; program verification; programming theory; robot programming; correctness; decentralized control concepts; fault tolerant distributed programs; industrial process-control; robot; self-stabilizing systems; Computer industry; Control systems; Distributed control; Electrical equipment industry; Fault tolerance; Industrial control; Power generation; Robot control; Service robots; Software safety;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
