Implementation results for a fault-tolerant multicellular architecture inspired by endocrine communication

Abstract

The hybrid redundancy structure found at the cellular level of higher animals provides complex organism with the three key features of a reliability-engineered system: fault tolerance, detection and recovery. For this reason, both the operation and organisation of this redundancy scheme provide an attractive source of inspiration for an electronic fault tolerant system. The electronic architecture documented within this paper models the cooperative operation and consequent fault masking of the multiple cells that form biological organs. A communication-system, inspired by endocrinology, is then used to network together these cells, coordinating their activity as organs, and controlling the operation of data processing tasks on a data stream. The bioNode hardware platform is used to implement and test the presented endocrinology inspired architecture. Results of the system's operation are provided to demonstrate the architecture's ability to maintain correct computation on. a data stream whilst being subjected to multiple and varied hardware faults.