A Multi-Signal Modeling Environment for Network Fault Monitoring

We propose to develop a comprehensive environment for fault monitoring and diagnostics of heterogeneous networks, utilizing Qualtech Systems' (QSI) core technologies in a suite of commercial tools presently used for modeling, maintenance and troubleshooting of hybrid systems. Unlike currently available tools, the proposed technology will not only perform efficient on-line fault isolation using network alarm correlation, but also support interactive diagnosis by network operators using subsequent drill-down tests, support both single and multiple fault isolation, and handle unreliable test results. The proposed effort will be conducted in consultation with BBN Corp., an industry leader and pioneer in the development and advancement of network technologies. The complementary capabilities of QSI and BBN make the QSI-BBN collaboration a strong team for this effort. In Phase I, the QSI-BBN team proposes to enhance the GUI in QSI's tool TEAMS and its underlying multi-signal modeling methodology in developing a network performance modeling tool (TEAMS-NP). The proposed TEAMS-NP modeling environment will treat network objects (sources of faults) as modules and the exceptional events as signals. The utility of the developed technologies will be demonstrated on an RSVP session for multimedia applications. In Phase II, TEAMS-NP will be integrated with QSI's real-time and interactive diagnostic tools TEAMS-RT and TEAMATE, into a monitoring system.