Multi-variate network survivability analysis
View Patent ↗Network survivability is quantified in such a way that failure cases can be compared and ranked against each other in terms of the severity of their impact on the various performance measures associated with the network. The degradation in network performance caused by each failure is quantified based on user-defined sets of thresholds of degradation severity for each performance measure. Each failure is simulated using a model of the network, and a degradation vector is determined for each simulated failure. A comparison function is defined to map the degradation vectors into an ordered set, and this ordered set is used to create an ordered list of network failures, in order of the network degradation caused by each failure.
1. A method of assessing failures in a network, comprising:
receiving, via a user interface at a failure analysis system, a plurality of user-specified potential failure conditions that have not yet occurred within the network,
simulating each of the plurality of failure conditions on a model of the network,
evaluating, by the failure analysis system, performance of the network under each of the plurality of failure conditions, the performance being defined by a plurality of performance measures,
mapping, by the failure analysis system, each performance measure of each failure condition to one of a plurality of degrees of degradation severity,
rank ordering the plurality of failure conditions by the failure analysis system, based on the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure for each failure condition, wherein the rank ordering includes mapping the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure to an ordered set, and
providing, by the failure analysis system, a failure assessment report based on the rank ordering of the plurality of failure conditions.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping includes comparing each performance measure for each failure condition to a set of degradation thresholds associated with each performance measure, to determine the degree of degradation severity.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the failure assessment report includes an ordered list of failure conditions based on the rank ordering.
4. The method of claim 1 , including allowing a user to define the mapping for one or more of the performance measures.
5. The method of claim 4 , including allowing the user to define criteria associated with at least one of the one or more performance measures.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rank ordering includes:
determining a number of thresholds exceeded at each degree of degradation severity for each of a first and second failure condition, and
rank ordering the first and second failure conditions based on the number of thresholds exceeded at a highest degree of severity at which the number of threshold exceeded differs between the first and second failure conditions.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rank ordering includes:
assigning a numeric value to each degree of degradation severity, and
determining a composite value for each failure condition based on the numeric values of the degrees of degradation severity for the failure condition.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the composite value is a norm of the numeric values.
9. The method of claim 1 , including defining a measure of network survivability based on the degree of degradation severity of one or more failure conditions.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the measure of network survivability is based on a number of thresholds exceeded at one or more degrees of degradation severity.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the measure of network survivability is based on the degree of degradation severity of a representative failure condition.
12. The method of claim 1 , including displaying the performance measures for one or more failure conditions, with an indication of the degree of degradation severity associated with each performance measure.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the indication includes a color-coding.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the failure conditions includes a compound failure of two or more elements of the network.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the failure conditions includes:
receiving a text statement that identifies a plurality of elements of the network, and
processing the text statement to create the plurality of failure conditions.
16. A system for assessing failures in a network comprising:
a user interface that is configured to receive a plurality of user-specified potential failure conditions that have not yet occurred within the network,
a network simulator that is configured to simulate each of the plurality of failure conditions on a model of the network,
a performance evaluator that is configured to evaluate performance of the network under each of the plurality of failure conditions, the performance being defined by a plurality of performance measures, and
a degradation evaluator that is configured to:
map each performance measure of each failure condition to one of a plurality of degrees of degradation severity, and
rank order the plurality of failure conditions based on the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure for each failure condition, wherein the rank order includes a mapping of the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure to an ordered set.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the degradation evaluator is configured to map each performance measure by comparing each performance measure for each failure condition to a set of degradation thresholds associated with each performance measure, to determine the degree of degradation severity.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface is configured to display an ordered list of select failure conditions based on the rank ordering.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface is configured to allow a user to define degradation parameters for each of one or more of the performance measures, wherein the degradation evaluator is configured to map each of the one or more performance measures based on the degradation parameters.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the user interface is configured to allow the user to define criteria associated with one or more of the degradation parameters.
21. The system of claim 16 , wherein the degradation evaluator is configured to rank order the plurality of failure conditions based on a number of thresholds exceeded at a highest degree of severity at which the number of thresholds exceeded differs between a first and second failure conditions.
22. The system of claim 16 , wherein the degradation evaluator is configured to rank order the plurality of failure conditions based on a composite value for each failure condition, the composite value being based on numeric values assigned to each of the degrees of degradation severity for the failure condition.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the composite value is a norm of the numeric values.
24. The system of claim 16 , wherein the degradation evaluator is configured to determine a measure of network survivability based on the degree of degradation severity of one or more failure conditions.
25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the measure of network survivability is based on a number of thresholds exceeded at one or more degrees of degradation severity.
26. The system of claim 24 , wherein the measure of network survivability is based on the degree of degradation severity of a representative failure condition.
27. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface is configured to display the performance measures for one or more failure conditions, including an indication of the degree of degradation severity associated with each performance measure.
28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the indication includes a color-coding.
29. The system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the failure conditions includes a compound failure of two or more elements of the network.
30. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface is configured to:
receive a text statement that identifies a plurality of elements of the network, and
process the text statement to create the plurality of failure conditions.
31. A non-transient computer-readable medium that includes a computer program that is configured to:
receive a plurality of user-specified potential failure conditions that have not yet occurred within the network,
simulate each of the plurality of failure conditions on a model of a network,
perform an evaluation of performance of the network under each of the plurality of failure conditions, the performance being defined by a plurality of performance measures,
map each performance measure of each failure condition to one of a plurality of degrees of degradation severity, and
rank order the plurality of failure conditions based on the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure for each failure condition, wherein the rank order includes a mapping of the degree of degradation severity of each performance measure to an ordered set.
32. The medium of claim 31 , wherein the program is configured to map each performance measure by comparing each performance measure for each failure condition to a set of degradation thresholds associated with each performance measure, to determine the degree of degradation severity.
33. The medium of claim 31 , wherein the program includes a user interface that is configured to allow a user to define degradation parameters for each of one or more of the performance measures, and the program is configured to map each of the one or more performance measures based on the degradation parameters.
34. The medium of claim 31 , wherein the program is configured to determine a measure of network survivability based on the degree of degradation severity of one or more failure conditions.
35. The medium of claim 31 , wherein at least one of the failure conditions includes a compound failure of two or more elements of the network.