A Framework and Protocol for Dynamic Management of Fault Tolerant Systems in Harsh Environments

Abstract

Robots can be used to deal with hazardous materials like nuclear waste. Unfortunately, electronic components are also susceptible to radiation effects. Current proposals to tackle this issue solve only parts of the problems for the specific scenarios and the specific types of radiation. At the same time, current computational devices should provide run-time capabilities to monitor and adapt to different situations. In this paper, we target a possible solution presenting a framework which provides the flexibility to employ fault-tolerant techniques on distributed systems. As proof of concept, we target a fault-tolerant technique to extend the operating time of systems in harsh environments. Results show a very low overhead, of few microseconds, to execute a majority voter with replicated tasks.