Feltolerant

Feltolerant is a term used to describe a system or component that can continue to function, perhaps in a degraded mode, even when some of its parts have failed. The concept is rooted in the idea of resilience, aiming to minimize the impact of failures and ensure continuous operation. This is particularly important in critical systems where downtime can have severe consequences, such as in aerospace, telecommunications, or industrial control systems.

There are various strategies employed to achieve feltolerance. Redundancy is a common approach, where duplicate components are installed and ready to take over if a primary component fails. This can include redundant hardware, software modules, or even entire systems. Another method involves error detection and correction mechanisms that can identify and rectify errors before they lead to a system failure. Graceful degradation is also a hallmark of feltolerant design, where a system might lose some non-essential functionalities but continue to perform its core tasks.

The design of feltolerant systems often involves complex engineering and rigorous testing to ensure that failure scenarios are adequately addressed. The goal is not necessarily to prevent all failures, but to manage them in a way that maintains acceptable performance and reliability. The term itself emphasizes the ability to "tolerate" the presence of faults, rather than being completely immune to them.