The Concept Of A Software-Free Resilience Infrastructure For Cyber-Physical Systems

This paper presents the architectural concept of a digital system that can be attached as an infrastructure to a "Client" system to enhance its resilience. This system, called "Resilience Infrastructure" RI, has four attributes. First, the RI is structured as a tree network of Monitor modules that are implemented by hardware and firmware only and can protect one or more Client systems. Second, the RI is separate from the Client. The only connections between them are error messages and data requests from the Client and error responses and data messages from the RI. Third, the RI is generic, that is, it can be attached to any Client that can issue error messages and data requests, and can receive Client-specified error responses and data messages from the Infrastructure. Fourth, the Infrastructure is self-protecting, that is, it is fully fault-tolerant while employing only hardware and firmware. The architecture and fault tolerance of the Resilience Infrastructure are illustrated by an elementary design.