Adaptive Fault Management

Abstract

Adaptive systems are not unusual at all. Adaptivity defines natural processes from evolution to the behavior of the individual human on a moment to moment basis. We should not confuse the sparsity of artificial adaptive systems created by man with the abundance of such systems produced by nature. Since nature has validated the concept, the technologists should have no fear in pursuing adaptive systems of the artificial kind, including adaptive fault management. Adaptive fault management is the process of changing in run time, the fault management techniques and strategies of the system to adjust to the external and internal system state. For instance change in the fault type or fault/error rate would cause an automatic adjustment in fault management. A change in mode of operation of a command control system (e.g. peace time, alert, war) can also cause adaptivity to occur. Every system can be characterized by a set of specifications called object function. Each objective function includes a specification for: function (processing, communications or data storage), performance, availability, precision, mutual consistency, security, safety, etc.