A structural theory of machine diagnosis

Abstract

The present trend in large scale integration of microelectronic technology has focussed a heavy emphasis on the maintenance and diagnostic aspects of large computers. Efficient techniques of diagnosis are important in multi-processors with reconfiguring capabilities to provide high availability. Also, a need exists for simple but effective means of understanding, visualizing and analyzing the problems associated with diagnostics. This paper presents a unified approach based on graph theory, which seems to provide a new insight into the problem without regard to the level of detail under consideration.