Method and system for environmentally adaptive fault tolerant computing

• US 7,840,852 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2005
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Jeremy, Ramos, Brenner, Dean, Wolfe, Jeffrey M., Copenhaver, Jason L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson; Yolanda L
• Application Number:
  US11/202,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20070022318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,929 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/47.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00

Abstract

A method and system for adapting fault tolerant computing. The method includes the steps of measuring an environmental condition representative of an environment. An on-board processing system'"'"'s sensitivity to the measured environmental condition is measured. It is determined whether to reconfigure a fault tolerance of the on-board processing system based in part on the measured environmental condition. The fault tolerance of the on-board processing system may be reconfigured based in part on the measured environmental condition.

Claims

1. A method of adapting fault tolerant computing, said method comprising the steps of:

measuring an environmental condition representative of an environment;

analyzing an on-board processing system for sensitivity to said measured environmental condition; and

determining whether to reconfigure a fault tolerance of said on-board processing system, based at least in part on said measured environmental condition, with a controller comprising;

an alert level generator configured to evaluate a potential environmental threat based on said measured environmental condition, the alert level generator comprising an adaptive linear predictive filter that generates a particle flux prediction;

a deployment plan that is user definable to describe one or more application tasks and system thresholds; and

a deployment generator configured to receive data from the alert level generator and the deployment plan.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of

reconfiguring said fault tolerance of said on-board processing system based in part on said measured environmental condition.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said fault tolerance of said on-board processing system is reconfigured to match said environment.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said fault tolerance of said on-board processing system is reconfigured based in part on historical data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of measuring said environmental condition occurs during an orbit position of said on-board processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said on-board processing system is included in a space borne asset.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of measuring environmental conditions comprises the step of detecting radiation conditions.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of measuring said environmental condition comprises monitoring flux of high-energy particles that cause single event upsets.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an alarm suite, said suite providing an alarm signal representative of an environment threat.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of collecting measurements of an alarm in response to said environmental condition on a space borne spacecraft.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of collecting measurements of an alarm in response to said environmental condition further comprises the step of

sensing proton and heavy-ion fluxes in space.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of

generating a particle flux prediction based in part on said collected measurements of said environmental condition.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of operating said on-board processing system in a plurality of operational modes, said on-board processing system comprising a COTS processor.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining whether to reconfigure said fault tolerance of said on-board processing system further comprises the step of

predicting a near future threat of said system.

15. A system for environmentally adaptive fault tolerant computing, said system comprising:

a sensor that senses a characteristic of a dynamic environment and generates an output signal based on said characteristic;

a system configuration controller that is executable by a processor and that receives said output signal, said controller assessing a potential environmental threat to an availability of said system based at least in part on said output signal, said controller comprising;

an alert level generator configured to evaluate the potential environmental threat, the alert level generator comprising an adaptive linear predictive filter that generates a particle flux prediction;

a deployment plan that is user definable to describe one or more application tasks and system thresholds; and

a deployment generator configured to receive data from the alert level generator and the deployment plan; and

a computing device that receives an input from said controller;

wherein a configuration of said computing device is adapted to effectively mitigate said potential environmental threat to the availability of said system.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said sensor comprises an environmental sensor suite.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said sensor senses radiation conditions.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said computing device is a payload computer system.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein said controller assessing said potential environmental threat to said availability of said system is based in part on said input and also in part on previously measured environmental conditions.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein said controller operates in a plurality of operational modes.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein said controller comprises a COTS processor.

22. A system for environmentally adaptive fault tolerant computing, the system comprising:

an environmental sensor suite comprising;

a plurality of sensors including at least one single event upset alarm that provides an alarm signal representative of a potential environmental threat;

a controller that is executable by a processor and in operative communication with the environmental sensor suite, the controller comprising;

an environmental server configured to receive sensory input signals from the plurality of sensors;

a history database configured to contain prior sensor measurements;

an alert level generator configured to evaluate the potential environmental threat based on the sensory input signals and the prior sensor measurements, the alert level generator comprising an adaptive linear predictive filter that generates a particle flux prediction;

a deployment plan that is user definable to describe one or more application tasks and system thresholds;

a deployment generator configured to receive data from the alert level generator and the deployment plan; and

a computer health monitor in operative communication with the deployment generator; and

a computer comprising at least one data processor in operative communication with the controller and configured to effectively mitigate the potential environmental threat;

wherein the deployment generator of the controller is configured to evaluate the potential environmental threat to the computer based on data from the deployment plan, the computer health monitor, and the alert level generator, and send a deployment signal to the computer to counter the potential environmental threat.