A Novel Approach for Fault-Tolerant Ethernet Implementation

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software products are being included in ever more complex and critical systems. There are clearly advantages to considering the use of COTS in such systems, but given the rigorous needs of such critical systems or subsystems, there are concerns about the suitability of COTS software for such applications. The AIAA’s Software Systems Technical Committee and the AIAA’s Computer Systems Technical Committee have undertaken an effort to produce a guidebook that captures issues related to the consideration and use of COTS products in these large, complex systems, with a special emphasis on those risks and risk mitigation approaches that relate to mission critical systems. This guidebook identifies a set of characteristics of mission critical systems that makes the consideration, selection and validation processes of COTS products (hardware, software, subsystems, etc.) an emerging factor in systems definition, development and acceptance. The guidebook discusses a large number of risk areas related to using COTS software products in mission critical systems and identifies various mitigation approaches to the risks. It includes detailed processes for selecting and evaluating the products and considerations for using COTS software products within the overall context of the software development life cycle standardized in IEEE/EIA 12207. Mission critical system characteristics such as reliability, safety, availability, maintainability and certification tend to influence whether or not COTS software should be considered for a given application. Once the suitability of COTS software has been determined, then it is possible that additional requirements may be placed on the product and/or the product’s vendor for such mission critical applications. Further, it is possible that certain system requirements and expectations may need to be modified because of the inclusion of COTS software products in that system. As COTS products continue to be considered as candidates for inclusion within mission critical systems, there are likely to be additional concerns and factors to emerge that will influence how both acquirers and suppliers decide if and/or when to use COTS products. Ongoing monitoring of this technology area seems to be warranted.

: The Computer Resource Management Technology Program (PE 64740F) is the sole Air Force engineering development program to focus on the problems associated with the acquisition, development, and support of computer resources within mission critical Air Force weapon systems. Engineering development is the final development and test of an operationally, technically, and economically desirable product. Mission critical systems are the airborne; spaceborne; command, control, communications and intelligence; and armament systems directly involved in the planning and execution of military missions. As the primary Air Force vehicle for transitioning the computer technology of advanced development work accomplished in industry, universities, and laboratories, the program's five continuing projects target the development and initial application of products which reduce software life cycle cost, enhance acquisition management control, and improve the quality and security of weapon system software.

This chapter introduces two different algorithms to detect intrusions in mission critical communication systems to guarantee their security. The first algorithm is a classification algorithm which applies the concept of supervised learning. The second algorithm is a clustering algorithm which applies the concept of unsupervised learning. The algorithms detect intrusions using a set of detection rules that are structured in the form of decision trees. The algorithms are described in details and their results on well-known dataset are introduced. An enhancement for the J48algorithm is also introduced, where the decision tree for the algorithm is changed to a binary tree. The change enhances the complexity to reach a decision. The chapter includes a brief introduction about the security in Mission critical systems and the reason behind securing such systems. It introduces different methodologies that were introduced to detect intrusions in wireless communications.

The performance and dependability of modern mission-critical systems significantly depends on the communication infrastructure. In this context, the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) task group addressed different requirements of cyber-physical systems such as timing and reliability constraints. TSN provides real-time capabilities through sharing a global time reference and employing transmission schedule tables called Gate Control Lists (GCL). On the other hand, TSN masks faulty behaviors within a system through a technique called Frame Replication and Elimination for Reliability (FRER). FRER fulfills the safety requirements of mission-critical systems by message replication and transmission of message replicas over redundant paths. The scheduling problem for the GCL synthesis is NP-complete. For simplification of the scheduling process, several state-of-the-art solutions provide schedulers for fault-free networks. However, this assumption is very optimistic and in practice networks experience different faulty-behaviors over time. This paper extends our heuristic TSN scheduler which was developed for fault-free TSN systems to support the FRER mechanism. Our fault-tolerant TSN scheduler focuses on enhancing the reliability of a mission-critical system while meeting the deadlines of time-critical jobs. To achieve this goal, we introduce a novel reliability analysis approach for a mission-critical system with a TSN communication infrastructure. This approach models and evaluates the reliability of a system based on the reliability of message transmissions between safety-critical jobs. The reliability of message transmissions is computed based on the reliability of the network components that form the forwarding paths. Thereby, our reliability model enables the system designers to plan networks more optimally.

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) for Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) is becoming an exciting and important technology in very recent years, because the intrusion prevention techniques can not satisfy the security requirements in mission critical systems. The proposed IDS architecture can be divided into two categories by the distributing form of IDS agents: fully distributed IDS and cluster-based IDS. The former has a high detection ratio, but it also consumes a cascade of energy. The latter has considered energy saving, but some hidden troubles of security exist in it. In this paper, we have proposed a novel IDS Agent Distributing (IAD) protocol for distributing IDS agents in MANETs. IAD protocol divides the whole network into several zones, selects a node subset from each zone, and runs IDS agent on the node in this subset. At the same time, IAD protocol can rectify the number of nodes running IDS agent according to the threat level of the network. Compared with the scheme that each node runs its own IDS, our proposed scheme is more energy efficient while maintaining the same level of detection rate. While compared with the cluster-based IDS scheme, our scheme is more flexible when facing the emergent situations. Simulation results show that our scheme can effectively balance the security strength and energy consuming in practice.

A real-time system should operate correctly within deadlines. A failure in response will lead to loss of human life or a big damage to the property. The systems are sometimes considered only mission critical, with mission being very expensive. A Mission Critical System needs study real time software which is highly complex and is vital for the success of the mission. The mission capability depends on this software and proves catastrophic in case of any failure. The software design of real-time system is very complex. To keep in pace with today's modern computing technology the real-time software should adopt new software design methodologies. This paper brings out a comparison of various design methodologies that has evolved over time. The shortcomings of each method to satisfy the requirements of real-time system and the need for a generalized approach as Design patterns.

In this paper, we propose a fault tolerant network architecture called Hierarchical Scalable Fault-tolerant Ethernet (H-SAFE) for mission critical systems. The proposed architecture is a tree based structure which provides multiple paths to route a packet. If any failure occurs in current path, then the alternative path recovers the failure and reroute the packet to destination without any information loss. In the failure state of any route, the fault detection and rerouting can be done within 750ms, which is a reasonable time for fault tolerance.

Specifying fault tolerance in mission critical intelligent systems

Ponte Academic JournalAug 2017, Volume 73, Issue 8 An Effective Model for Testing Distributed Embedded Systems using Scaffolding MethodAuthor(s): SASTRY JKR ,K. Chaitanya, K Raja Sekhara Rao, DBK KameshJ. Ponte - Aug 2017 - Volume 73 - Issue 8 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2017.8.1 Abstract:Many methods are in use for undertaking comprehensive testing of standalone embedded systems. Many intricate aspects which include throughput, response time, signal patterns, are be tested to ensure that the embedded have been functioning properly. Distributed embedded systems are being used quite frequently these days for many purposes commencing from Automation of automobiles to Home appliances to home security systems. Some of the Distributed systems are being used for monitoring and controlling safety critical and mission critical systems. The mission and safety critical systems require thorough testing. Many additional aspects are to be considered for testing a distributed embedded system which include testing message flow, arbitration, synchronization Heterogeneity of distributed system, portability etc. This paper presents a Modified Scaffolding method for undertaking testing of a distributed embedded system which is built using many heterogeneous microcontroller based systems. The method has been used for testing a pilot distributed embedded system and the results obtained by undertaking the testing have shown that the bugs existing in the development of embedded system have been thoroughly exposed.. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

With the growing dependency of many technical, commercial, administrative and even social processes from computer software, the number of mission critical software projects rapidly increases. The rapid integration of formerly stand-alone systems into global networks subjects these systems to yet unknown threats. Even mission critical systems may be deliberately manipulated to let malicious attackers access vital system functions or to take over the entire system. Though such systems feature protection mechanism during operation, they are rather vulnerable during their software design and development process. This paper defines a secure software development process to reduce the risk of manipulation and enhance the trustworthiness of critical software produced by renowned manufaturers according to high quality standards. It also explained how this process may be implemented cost efficiently.KeywordsHash FunctionTrust CenterMission Critical SystemMission Critical ApplicationCertificate VerificationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Tradespace Exploration (TSE) is a process of analyzing various suitable alternatives in an intuitive manner. In recent years, TSE has emerged as a systematic strategy to assess the effectiveness and suitability of alternative conceptual designs. An advantage of TSE is that it promotes a detailed consideration of tradeoffs, which should be agreed upon by stakeholders prior to committing to a particular design. However, explicit consideration of the “-ilities,” such as reliability, availability, maintainability, as well as their associated cost are often omitted from such studies. A related trend in reliability engineering is the application of machine learning methods to various mission critical systems. Specifically, effective monitoring of a system’s health can identify preventive maintenance actions based on a usage profile. In this regard, prognostics and health management (PHM) has emerged as a promising approach to predict the deterioration of components prior to failure so that they can be maintained on an as-needed basis instead of performing costly part replacement at regular intervals to preserve reliability and safety. Previous PHM studies emphasize degradation modeling and predictive algorithms to improve state of health predictions. However, most of these techniques focus on improving performance within a single maintenance cycle, while fewer studies consider the effectiveness of alternative degradation models and predictive algorithms over multiple successive maintenance intervals. This dissertation presents two contributions (i) a method to incorporate reliability engineering into tradespace exploration, and (ii) a measure based on concepts from maintenance theory to provide a framework for the objective assessment of existing and future degradation models.

Self-adaptation ability is particularly desirable for mission critical software (MCS). This paper proposes a fuzzy control-based approach to provide a systematic, engineering, and intuitive way for programmers to achieve software self adaptation. This approach uses fuzzy logic to handle uncertainty in software, uses natural-language style to describe self-adaptation logic, and makes control visible in software. These greatly shorten the knowledge and semantics gap between control engineering and software engineering, and reduce the realization difficulty of software self-adaptation. We illustrate our approach through the development of an adaptive MCS application in process control systems.

With the increased demand for IR sensor and surveillance systems, there is a growing need for technologies to support their operational readiness. Measurement of sensor characteristics such as sensitivity, MRTD, and dynamic range should be standard in all mission critical systems. The Real-Time Infrared Test Set (RTIR) is a portable system designed to provide in-the-field calibration and testing of IR imaging systems and seekers. RTIR uses the high volume manufacturing processes of the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) and the Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology to produce a Thermal Pixel Array (TPA). State-of-the-art CMOS processes define all the necessary on-chip digital and analog electronics. When properly driven, this array generates variable temperature,synthetic IR scenes. A nonuniformity measurement of several TPAs is presented.

Achieving high availability and performance computing with an HA-OSCAR cluster

Intelligent agents are a new paradigm for developing software applications. More than this, agent-based computing has been hailed as ‘the next significant breakthrough in software development’ (Sargent, 1992), and ‘the new revolution in software’ (Ovum, 1994). Currently, agents are the focus of intense interest on the part of many sub-fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. Agents are being used in an increasingly wide variety of applications, ranging from comparatively small systems such as email filters to large, open, complex, mission critical systems such as air traffic control. At first sight, it may appear that such extremely different types of system can have little in common. And yet this is not the case: in both, the key abstraction used is that of an agent Our aim in this article is to help the reader to understand why agent technology is seen as a fundamentally important new tool for building such a wide array of systems. More precisely, our aims are five-fold: