Fault-tolerant node architecture for distributed systems

• Main Authors: DISSER, ROBERT J, DEGOUL, PAUL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 04.11.2009
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OFVEHICLES; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A distributed architecture system including a plurality of nodes (24, 26) operatively coupled together by a bus (28). Each node (24, 26) includes a main controller (42) configured to provide data to the bus (28) and to an actuator (22), and a supervisory controller (44) configured to provide data to the bus (28) and to the actuator (22). Each node (24, 26) is configured such that during normal operations the main controller (42) provides data (54) to the actuator (22) that controls the actuator (22) and the supervisory controller (44) generally does not provide data to the actuator (22) that controls the actuator (22). Each node (24, 26) is configured such that if it is determined that the main controller (42) is providing improper data, the supervisory controller (44) provides data (58) to the actuator (22) that controls the actuator (22) and the main controller (42) does not provide data to the actuator (22) that controls the actuator (22).