SBIR-STTR Award

This proposal defines the development of the system level automation test equipment (SLATE) for the on-line maintenance of distributed processing systems based on local area networks (LANS). The slate is a stand-alone subsystem which probes the system through a lan. The slate assists in the detection and isolation of faults to the subsystem level. Fault detection is achieved through non-intrusive performance monitoring, system message flow analysis and/or periodic interaction with the subsystems. Fault isolation capabilities begin with a set of commands available to the user for interacting with other subsystems on the network. The commands can be executed individually or grouped together as command sequences. The slate records the procedure and command sequences used to isolate a fault and allows the user to review edit and save the procedure on completion. Once a base of these diagnostic routines for a system has been established, the detection of a fault by the slate can be mapped into the appropriate set of diagnostic routines for automatic fault isolation and reporting. The achievements scheduled for the phase I activities of this project include developing the commands necessary to transmit and receive on the lan and documenting the full capabilities of the slate to be developed in phase II.

This proposal defines the development of the System Level Automated Test Equipment (SLATE) for the on-line maintenance of distributed processing systems based on Local Area Networks (LANS). The slate is a stand-alone subsystem which probes the system through a lan. The slate provides the operator with both manual and automatic diagnostic tools. The manual tools are intended for the more experienced operator. The automated tools are based in artificial intelligence technology, in particular the expert system paradigm. The automated tools consist of numerous expert systems designed to automatically detect and isolate faults in lan-based systems. The expert systems use a wide range of inferencing mechanisms including forward chaining rules, backward chaining rules, script processing, and procedural processing. The expert systems will use two innovative devices to interface with the lan. One is a data collector, which collects data of interest from the LAN, and the other is a traffic generator, which interactively generates traffic on the LAN.