Network Fault Tolerance via Relay Node Impact Simulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
As network complexity increases, the likelihood of disruptions due to faulty network devices also grows, necessitating improved fault tolerance in internet service provider networks to maintain uninterrupted access while managing deployment costs effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that identify critical relay nodes connecting customer nodes to an internet access node, simulate potential faults, assess the impact on network paths, and dynamically adjust the network topology to enhance fault tolerance, ensuring continuous signal flow and reducing manual changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If network complexity increases to meet growing bandwidth requirements, then network capacity and bandwidth are improved, but the likelihood of disruptions due to faulty network devices increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary fault simulation by virtually disabling relay nodes before actual failures occur. It calculates impact scores for each relay node by simulating failures and measuring the number of affected customer nodes, enabling proactive identification of critical nodes that require redundancy or protection measures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback through automated monitoring that detects actual network failures and compares them against simulated failure scenarios. This feedback loop validates the accuracy of impact scores and continuously improves the system's ability to predict and prevent disruptions, allowing dynamic adjustment of fault tolerance strategies.
2Reliability
If manual topology changes are implemented to improve fault tolerance, then network reliability is improved, but deployment costs and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically calculating impact scores, identifying critical relay nodes, and determining optimal topology changes without human intervention. The automated system performs fault simulations, analyzes results, and generates recommendations for improving fault tolerance, eliminating the need for manual analysis and reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of fault tolerance by using impact scores to dynamically adjust network topology. Instead of manual configuration, the system automatically modifies routing paths and network architecture based on calculated vulnerability metrics, transforming fault tolerance from a static manual process to a dynamic automated parameter adjustment.
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive fault simulation is performed on all relay nodes, then accuracy of fault prediction is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by focusing fault simulation only on relay nodes that are candidates for failure based on initial assessment criteria. Instead of uniformly simulating all relay nodes, it selectively applies comprehensive simulation to high-risk nodes, achieving accurate fault prediction while reducing overall processing time and computational resource consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of improving fault tolerance of a network. The network includes a plurality of relay nodes, internet access node and plurality of customer nodes. The method includes identifying first set of relay nodes connecting one of customer nodes to internet access node, selecting a first relay node from first set of relay nodes, to be simulated as a first faulty node in the network, detecting, based on the simulation, number of customer nodes without at least one corresponding network path connecting to the internet access node due to the selection of the first relay node as the first faulty node, determining impact score of the first relay node based on the detected number of customer nodes without at least one corresponding network path connecting to the internet access node, and triggering one or more changes in topology of network according to the impact score to improve fault tolerance of network.