Fault-Tolerant Systems

Summary

The more we become dependent on the functioning of complex technical systems, the more important their resilience becomes: they need to maintain the required system performance even when internal and external failures and disruptions occur. This applies both to individual systems (e.g. cars, medical devices, airplanes) as well as to infrastructure (traffic, supply systems, information and communications systems). Designing these complex systems to be resilient requires Resilience Engineering, that is, a process of maintaining critical functions, ensuring a graceful degradation (in the case where the critical functionality cannot be retained due to the severity of the disruption) and supporting the fast recovery of complex systems. This necessitates generic capabilities as well as adaptable and tailored technical solutions that protect the system in the case of critical issues and unexpected or previously nonexistent events. Cascade effects that occur in critical infrastructures during disruption, for example, may thus be simulated and their effects proactively minimized.