Remote diagnosis server architecture

Modern systems such as the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, or nuclear power plants are examples of mission critical systems that need to be monitored around the clock. Such systems typically consist of embedded sensors in networked subsystems that can transmit data to central (or remote) monitoring stations. At Qualtech Systems, we are developing a Remote Diagnosis Server (RDS^TM) to implement a remote health monitoring system based on received data from such systems. RDS^TM can also be used to provide online monitoring of sensor-rich, network capable systems such as jet engines, building heating-ventilation-air-conditioning systems, and automobiles. This paper presents the various components and architecture of the RDS ^TM. The RDS^TM is built on a three-tier architecture with a "Broker" application in the middle layer, and multiple TEAMS-RT^TM and TEAMATE^TM based reasoners at the backend. The client layer consists of sensor agents. that collect test results and transmit them over a message-passing network, or technicians with web browsers being guided through intelligent troubleshooting sessions. A database in the backend, TEAMS-KB^TM , is used to manage models and content, and collect diagnosis logs for data mining. the solution scales easily to hundreds of sessions in any modern workstation or server