Federated Sensor Control Policy Switching for Special Events
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Solution Overview
Problem
In complex federated systems like Smart Homes and Smart Cities, managing dynamic interactions between sensors and actuators becomes challenging due to increased data volume, policy complexity, and potential conflicts between policies, especially in decentralized systems with no single point of control, leading to unpredictable behavior and potential hazards.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method to dynamically replace the set of management control policies with a predetermined, prioritized policy set during special events, such as emergencies, to ensure predictable behavior and avoid conflicts, while restricting external communications and using master events to trigger alternative policy sets that are simpler and more focused.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the system allows dynamic addition and removal of sensors and actuators to improve adaptability, then the system becomes more vulnerable to conflicts between policies and unpredictable behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic policy set replacement where the policy configuration changes based on system state. A special event detector monitors for specific conditions (such as component failures or maintenance modes) and triggers replacement of the active policy set with an alternative policy set that is appropriate for the current state, thereby adapting the system behavior dynamically while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of policy configuration by switching between different policy sets. When a special event is detected, the system transitions from a first policy set to a second policy set, effectively changing the control parameters to match the current system state and avoid conflicts that would arise from the original policies.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system uses multiple policies to handle diverse events, then the complexity of managing and tracking policy interactions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the policy management into multiple independent policy sets. Instead of managing one large complex policy set, the system divides policies into separate sets (first policy set and second policy set), each handling specific types of events or system states. This segmentation reduces the complexity of managing all policies simultaneously while maintaining comprehensive event handling capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts problematic or context-specific policies from the main policy set and places them in alternative policy sets. When special events are detected, only the relevant extracted policies are activated, removing unnecessary policies from active management and reducing the overall complexity of policy interactions that need to be tracked.
3Reliability
If the system maintains redundant sensors and actuators for reliability, then the quantity of data and communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts which sensors and actuators are active based on the current policy set. When switching between policy sets, the system activates only the components necessary for the current operational mode, reducing data generation and communication overhead while maintaining redundancy when needed for reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system of interacting sensors (1, 7) and operational equipment (5) is configured to control the operational equipment in response to trigger events detected by the sensors, according to a set of management control policy sets (3). In response to one or more identified special trigger events (400), the set of management control policies is replaced with a predetermined policy (8) prioritising control of the behaviour of the system according to a predetermined set of control parameters.