The invention relates to fault tolerant data processing.
Fault tolerant data processing is required in applications where faults can give rise to a critical/fatal condition for example in vehicular applications such as brake-by-wire or steer-by-wire where, if a brake or steering sensor fails then in the absence of fault tolerance, the results could be catastrophic.
A known approach to providing fault tolerance is to use either exact or in inexact voting. Voting can be used in applications where fault tolerance is required, for example where a value such as a sensor input is calculated independently at multiple processors to obtain redundancy. In such an event, the independent values can be compared to establish whether there is correspondence between them and, where there are three or more processors, as long as a majority of the values correspond, the majority value is adopted as the correct value, forming a majority voting scheme.
Referring for example to
Referring to
Because there are three processors receiving a common data input, it is possible to vote on the results. If a majority is reached, that is, two out of the three processors agree on the result, then this can be identified as the correct result. This could also allow the fault to be potentially identified.
One known approach for implementing voting is shown in
In the case of inexact voting, rather than a majority of processors returning the same value which is then accepted as the output, each may return a different data value which is nonetheless similar enough to a majority of other values to allow derivation of an agreed value. For example where a majority of values are similar within a predetermined permissible error then an output can be obtained as a function of the data values comprising the majority, for example a mean. For example where respective processors return data values 0, 1, 200 then the values 0 and 1 may be within the permissible error and hence form a majority and the output will be the mean of these two values i.e. 0.5. On the other hand if the returned values are 0, 100, 200 then there may be no majority within a permissible error bound.
Problems arise with the known approaches, however. One such problem is where one of the processors is unreliable such that the results that it returns may differ dependent on which node it communicates with. This problem is sometimes termed the “Byzantine General Problem” and is described at http://www.eecis.udel.edu/˜mills/exec.html. In some instances the problem has been solved but not in the case of inexact voting for a small number of nodes such as three nodes.
In addition synchronisation problems arise with voting systems of the type described above. Synchronisation is very important in applications where multiple processors have to vote on an instantaneous sensed value from a continuously varying parameter as, if different processors vote on the sensed value taken at different times, errors can clearly arise. Various known systems are provided for synchronising multiple processors for example of the type described at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1305.html which relies on a master clock and requires a large number of nodes for synchronisation. Such an approach is not suitable for a fully distributed system with no specific master, nor for a system with a low number of processors. Although distributed approaches are known, for example as described in http://www.vmars.tuwien.ac.at/php/pserver/extern/docdetail.php?DID=294&vi ewmode=paper these require a hierarchy and do not achieve the resolutions required for time critical applications. Furthermore known systems suffer from problems of compensating for the communication time delay between nodes and also can be affected by the time taken to process the synchronisation information itself.
The invention is set out in the claims. Because a processor receiving a version of the data values from other processors in a network compares both the version generated by a processor and the corresponding version transmitted by another processor in a round of communications, this allows identification of a valid data value from each processor even in the case where the Byzantine General Problem arises and can be used to obtain an agreed version of data between processors, for example using inexact voting. Furthermore the use of a voting process to determine a synchronised time value across a network means that synchronisation can be achieved even for a small number of nodes in a fully distributed system. Yet further where the synchronised time value is based on a calculation of an offset between processors this allows compensation for time delay for communication between processors and means that the time taken for the synchronisation calculation steps themselves does not affect the synchronisation process.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, of which:
a is a block diagram showing a three processor fault tolerant system according to the present invention in a first round of communication;
b is a block diagram showing the three node processor fault tolerant system according to the present invention in a second round of communication;
In overview, referring to
As a result after two rounds of communication, each processor can compare a data value from another processor received from each direction (clockwise and anti-clockwise), one comprising a version directly generated by the other processor and one comprising a transmitted version thereof by the intermediate processor. So, for example, processor 410 can compare the data value D3 received directly from processor 414 that generated it, in the first round of communication and also the version thereof transmitted by processor 412 in the second round of communication. As discussed in more detail below this allows detection of a Byzantine type fault and, if not, validation of the data. In an optimisation this step can be used as a precursor to an exact or inexact voting process. The invention further extends to synchronisation techniques based on similar voting principles but also enhancing the voting process.
The invention can be further understood with respect to
As a result Byzantine faults of the type where a node sends different versions of the same data value to different nodes are identified because both versions are compared at each processor. The system will work for exact or inexact voting approaches as discussed in more detail below and is fast, robust and operable for a small number of nodes in a fully distributed system.
The values returned according to the method described with reference to
In block 600 the processor establishes whether all of the values are valid and equal. In other words if c1v and a1v are valid, c1 is equal to a1 and either of c1 or a1 are equal to the value at the processor (my value) then there is a clear majority as identified in block 602 there is no need, in the three processor example, to consider c2 and a2 and the value at the processor (my value) is returned in block 604. As a result, this initial step allows the process to be completed in the vast majority of cases where all of the data values can be expected to be exactly the same (that is, no fault). Accordingly the computational burden is reduced in many cases.
If not all values are valid or not all values are equal then in block 606 the processor checks whether its value (my value) represents a majority, that is, it matches more than half of the valid values a1v, c1v, a2v, c2v and so forth. If so, in block 608 the value at the processor is identified as the majority value and that value (my value) is returned in block 610. If the value at the processor is not in the majority then in block 612 the processor establishes whether there is enough valid data received from the other processors to allow a vote to take place given that the values at the processor itself, having been established as not in the majority, must be outvoted by a majority returned from the remaining processors. If this is not possible then in block 614 the processor returns no majority and the process ends. However if there is enough valid data to allow a vote then in block 616 the processor establishes whether a majority value exists and if so then in block 618 the majority is identified and in block 620 the majority value is returned. If there is no majority available in block 616 then in block 622 a “no majority” result is returned and the process ends.
It will be appreciated that the approach can be extended to an inexact voting protocol as described with reference to
In an optimisation, in block 704 the processor checks that the data lies within an acceptable range as determined by a pre-set tolerance. For example in a first step the lowest and highest values in the array are checked to establish whether they are within the required tolerance and if so the full range will of course also be within the desired range. If not then the two middle values are checked to see whether they are within the desired tolerance and if so the value is accepted. If not then the value is not accepted.
Assuming that the values are within the predetermined tolerance range then in block 706 the median data value is returned as the agreed value according to the inexact role.
It will be appreciated that the method described above can be implemented in any appropriate manner and is of particular relevance to fault tolerant applications. In fact it is found that the approach described can be implemented within existing micro processors within a system rather than requiring external hardware or additional processors to support voting and time synchronisation (as discussed in more detail below).
One implementation for the purposes of example is described below in relation to vehicular fault tolerant applications. Such applications could comprise for example brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire. Referring to
The sensor outputs are received as system inputs to a processor system or distributed processor system 806 which may be provided in an engine or brake control unit or in separate processor modules. In the embodiment shown, three processors 808, 810, 812 are provided comprising, respectively, an external monitoring controller, a chassis systems controller and an engine management system. As a result the functionality to allow voting and fault tolerance in relation to the brake-by-wire approach is built into the existing processors carried in the vehicle. The processors 808, 810, 812 communicate in a ring mode as described above with regards, for example, to FIGS. 2 to 4 via links 814, 816, 818. It will be appreciated that the individual processors can be of any appropriate type as will be well known to the skilled person as can the links. For example the links can be full duplex 100 Mbps ethernet links. Each of the processors has an output 820 from which the result of the voting discussed above together with any other outputs from the processor generally are received.
In order to obtain time synchronisation of the various data values from each processor and hence a representative fault tolerant system in which voting is carried out at the same time in all nodes, time synchronisation can be achieved using the same voting algorithm as discussed above. The basic time line can be understood with reference to
In overview the synchronisation method can be understood with reference to
It will be seen that two factors in particular must be accounted for in the synchronisation process, namely the synchronisation offset between any two nodes (t0) and the network transmission time delay (td). A preferred approach for compensating for these and also the time for processing the time synchronisation algorithm can be better understood with reference to
t2s−t0=t1s (1)
In blocks 1204 and 1206 the respective nodes receive the synchronisation signals from the other node at respective times t2sr1, t2sr2, and taking into account the transmission delay td (considered to be the same in both directions) this provides:
t1s+td=t, sr2−t0 (2)
and
t2s−t0+td=t2sr1 (3)
In blocks 1208, 1210 each processor calculates the offset t0. In particular this can be obtained by solving equations (2) and (3) to obtain:
t0=((t1sr2−t1s)−(t2sr1−t2s)/2 (4)
In block 1212 each node votes on an agreed offset value from the calculated offsets at each node and in particular a median value is obtained across all nodes. It will be noted that each node as part of the voting process will also take into account its time offset for its own time value i.e. zero offset. In block 1214 each node applies the agreed offset by adding it to its current time value at the synchronisation instant (which, from the point of view of each node, will be exactly the same time of course) such that the processors hence converge on an agreed synchronisation time. This adjustment method, taking into account the calculated offset, means that the time to do the calculations themselves—interval 910 in
It will further be seen that equations (2) and (3) can be solved to obtain a value for the network delay td between nodes to provide:
td=(t1sr2−t1s)−t0 (5)
If desired td can be calculated as well in order to establish that the value falls within a predetermined range of values—otherwise an error may be indicated. The system may be arranged such that a slight time offset is retained between processors such that they are not perfectly synchronised. This can give rise to significant advantages in fault tolerant applications where errors can arise may be propagated in the case that all processors are perfectly synchronised.
As a result of this synchronisation approach stable synchronisation to a resolution of 10 μs can be obtained over a shared intranet despite the potentially long network transmission delays involved. The synchronisation technique can work with as few as two processors unlike known systems which often require large numbers of processors to obtain the desired level of synchronisation.
It will be recognised that the synchronisation technique can be implemented, for example, in the architecture described with reference to
Although any appropriate data transmission protocol can be adopted, a data packet structure of the type shown in
Because each processor runs identical code both for time synchronisation and voting the data segment 1304 does not require special information in its contents as each node will recognise the required format having transmitted similar data itself. As a result for exact voting it is only necessary to vote based on a comparison of the check word 1306 as, if these agree, it is assumed that the corresponding data 1304 agrees. As the check word will be significantly shorter than the data this means that processing is significantly faster. Furthermore in that case it is not in fact necessary to send the data as the processor itself will already have a copy of the data in the case of an exact match, by definition. Furthermore as the position in the data will determine what each value means and each processor is processing common data, there is no need to specify in the data what the values mean allowing further data compaction.
It will be appreciated that the invention can be implemented in any appropriate form such as hardware, software or firmware and, where appropriate, in any code such as the C programming language and in an engine, brake or steering control unit. Any specific processing and encoding approach can be applied to data blocks carrying the messages to be checked and validated. The skilled person will be aware of appropriate protocols for the communication of the data such that detailed discussion is not required here. The voting and synchronisation techniques described herein can be applied to any appropriate implementation. For example the voting process can be applied in any fault tolerant system such as a network of processors controlling operation of a vehicle or indeed any other application where redundancy and fault tolerance is required. Similarly although the time synchronisation approach is of particular benefit in relation to distributed network of processors, it can be applied in any appropriate implementation where time synchronisation is required as long as it supports a voting methodology.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0411054.0 | May 2004 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/GB05/01930 | 5/18/2005 | WO | 6/18/2007 |