FaTEMa: A Framework for Multi-Layer Fault Tolerance in IoT Systems

Fault tolerance in IoT systems is challenging to overcome due to its complexity, dynamicity, and heterogeneity. IoT systems are typically designed and constructed in layers. Every layer has its requirements and fault tolerance strategies. However, errors in one layer can propagate and cause effects...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-10, Vol.21 (21), p.7181
Main Authors: Melo, Mário, Aquino, Gibeon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Collaboration
Communication
Decision making
dependability
Error correction & detection
Error detection
error recovery
Fault tolerance
Heterogeneity
Hypotheses
Information sharing
Internet of Things
IoT
Multilayers
reliability
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Summary:Fault tolerance in IoT systems is challenging to overcome due to its complexity, dynamicity, and heterogeneity. IoT systems are typically designed and constructed in layers. Every layer has its requirements and fault tolerance strategies. However, errors in one layer can propagate and cause effects on others. Thus, it is impractical to consider a centralized fault tolerance approach for an entire system. Consequently, it is vital to consider multiple layers in order to enable collaboration and information exchange when addressing fault tolerance. The purpose of this study is to propose a multi-layer fault tolerance approach, granting interconnection among IoT system layers, allowing information exchange and collaboration in order to attain the property of dependability. Therefore, we define an event-driven framework called FaTEMa (Fault Tolerance Event Manager) that creates a dedicated fault-related communication channel in order to propagate events across the levels of the system. The implemented framework assist with error detection and continued service. Additionally, it offers extension points to support heterogeneous communication protocols and evolve new capabilities. Our empirical results show that introducing FaTEMa provided improvements to the error detection and error resolution time, consequently improving system availability. In addition, the use of Fatema provided a reliability improvement and a reduction in the number of failures produced.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s21217181