Decentralized Fleet Coordination With Peer Authentication

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing fleet management systems face challenges in efficiently managing and securing large numbers of devices, including high resource consumption, single points of failure, and vulnerability to attacks, while maintaining flexibility and scalability.

Innovation Solution

A decentralized fleet management system where devices independently manage their updates and connections, using peer-to-peer communication and asynchronous updates, with credentials and scripts that expire periodically to ensure security and reliability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a centralized fleet management system is used to manage devices, then device coordination and control are improved, but resource consumption and single points of failure increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedevice coordinationVSAvoidresource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system divides the fleet management functionality into distributed device agents that operate autonomously on individual devices rather than relying on a single centralized controller. Each device agent manages local device operations and coordinates with peer devices, segmenting the management function across multiple independent nodes to reduce central resource consumption while maintaining coordination capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Device agents are designed to autonomously manage their respective devices without requiring constant centralized control. The agents independently handle device monitoring, update management, and coordination tasks, enabling the system to maintain reliability through self-service operations while reducing the resource burden on centralized infrastructure

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Reliability

If a centralized fleet management system is used to manage devices, then device coordination and control are improved, but vulnerability to attacks and single points of failure increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedevice coordinationVSAvoidvulnerability to attacks

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

By distributing the fleet management functionality across multiple autonomous device agents rather than concentrating it in a single centralized system, the architecture eliminates single points of failure. Each agent operates independently on its device, so an attack on one agent does not compromise the entire fleet management system, thereby reducing vulnerability while maintaining coordination capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Device agents serve as intermediary components between the devices and any external management systems. These agents implement security protocols and act as buffered intermediaries that can filter and validate communications, reducing direct exposure to attacks while maintaining the ability to coordinate fleet operations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Productivity

If devices continuously connect to fleet management system, then real-time monitoring and control are improved, but resource consumption and system complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereal-time monitoringVSAvoidconnection management

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of maintaining continuous connections, device agents establish periodic or event-driven connections to the fleet management system. Agents connect to report status updates, receive commands, or request information only when necessary, rather than maintaining persistent real-time connections. This periodic action model reduces connection management complexity while still enabling effective monitoring and control through scheduled or trigger-based communications

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

4Stability of the object's composition

If centralized control manages all device updates, then update consistency is improved, but resource consumption and scalability limitations increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveupdate consistencyVSAvoidscalability

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The centralized system performs preliminary actions by preparing and validating update packages before distribution. Device agents receive pre-validated update information from the fleet management system, ensuring consistency is established in advance. This preliminary validation approach maintains update consistency while enabling distributed agents to independently manage their own update installation, improving scalability without sacrificing consistency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

5Adaptability or versatility

If devices operate independently without centralized coordination, then resource consumption and scalability are improved, but device coordination and security decrease

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovescalabilityVSAvoiddevice coordination

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Device agents implement feedback mechanisms that allow them to autonomously monitor their operational status, resource levels, and environmental conditions. This local feedback enables independent devices to make coordinated decisions without centralized control, maintaining device coordination and security through distributed intelligence while preserving scalability and reducing resource consumption associated with constant centralized communication

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS12598174B2Fleet management system and method

Publication Date: 2026.04.07 VIAM INC

AI summary

In variants, a fleet management method can include: determining information about a device; and sending information to the device, including authentication credentials, wherein the device can authenticate itself with other devices within the fleet using the authentication credentials. The fleet management system can function to scalably manage the operation and permissioning of one or more fleets of devices.