Multiply and conquer: A replication framework for building fault tolerant industrial applications

TIEC 61499 defines an execution model for distributed industrial control applications, i.e. a single application distributed among several devices. In such an environment partial failures are likely to occur. In order to avoid probable system malfunctions and breakdowns due to partial failures, the authors have previously proposed a framework where the concept of replication may be applied to the IEC 61499 execution model. This paper focuses on describing an implementation of this replication framework on the FORTE IEC 61499 execution platform, along with the results of the first tests of the implementation. A set-up for the full validation of the approach is also described.