Towards dynamic fault tolerance on FTT-based distributed embedded systems

Distributed embedded systems (DES) have been traditionally designed to operate in static environments that do not change over time. Flexible designs are increasingly being introduced to achieve continuous and correct operation under dynamic environments. Some designs, such as the Flexible Time-Triggered communication paradigm (FTT), are focused on being able to modify the real-time operation upon changing requirements imposed by the environment. The on-going project Fault Tolerance for FTT (FT4FTT) purports to increase the reliability of a DES based on the FTT protocol by introducing static fault tolerance. In this paper we give some hints on how to go one step beyond by adding dynamic fault tolerance to the DES. This would result in new systems that would combine the qualities of flexible real-time operation and flexible and adaptive fault tolerance, much enlarging their sphere of applicability.