An investigation into the stability of redundant controller voting schemes

Abstract

<p>Redundant controllers are being designed to provide improved system reliability to meet the needs of various applications. In some implementations of these systems unacceptable system transients have occured when a single-controller failure occurs. The problem has been treated using case-by-case correction which is not sufficiently general in application to meet the needs of systems which may be user-programmed. Redundant control systems generalized as ideal and nonideal using two specific voting schemes are examined to gain insight into theoretical characterization of their performance under single-point failure modes and the limitations of applicability for the characterizations. State-model computer simulation is used to demonstrate the characterizations. A suggested direction for a general solution to the problem based on the chatacterizations is described.</p>