Zerofault

Zerofault is a term used in reliability engineering to describe a design objective and corresponding architectural approach aimed at eliminating or drastically reducing the occurrence and impact of faults in a system. It is not a single standard or product, but a family of practices that span hardware, software, and processes, typically applied in safety- and mission-critical domains.

The central idea is to ensure that a fault does not propagate, degrade performance, or cause unsafe states. This is pursued through layered protection, fault detection, isolation, recovery, and verification, often in combination with formal methods and rigorous testing.

Common techniques include redundancy (spatial, temporal, and diverse), health monitoring, automatic failover, fault containment, and self-healing software. Verification methods such as formal verification, model checking, and exhaustive testing are used to reduce the likelihood of latent faults. Standards-based processes and certification are frequently involved in regulated industries.

Potential benefits include improved safety, increased system availability, and reduced risk of catastrophic failure. Limitations involve higher cost, added complexity, potential for undetected edge cases, and the need for accurate fault models. In practice, zerofault strategies balance robustness with practicality and performance.

In literature and industry, zerofault is discussed as part of broader fault-tolerance and high-availability strategies. Related concepts include fault tolerance, fail-safety, fail-operational design, redundancy, and self-healing systems.