Node data bus fault tolerance in a distributed system

摘要

The invention relates generally to a data bus node (110), being a control node (110, 120, 130) or a sensor node (140, 150) and being arranged to communicate over a TDMA data bus (105), the node (110) comprising: - a time signal processing device (1110) being configured to define a TDMA time slot transmission schedule for at least said node (110), - a switch (1155) being configured to either connect or isolate a transmission path of said node (110) to the bus (105) and configured to be controlled by said TDMA time slot transmission schedule for said node (110) via a bus transmission access control device (1180), wherein said bus transmission access control device (1180) is being configured to be further controlled by at least one external control signal via at least one external data transmission link (1220, 1230) being physically separated from said bus (105). The invention also relates to a fault tolerant data bus system comprising such a bus node and an aircraft exploiting the node/system. The invention effectively solves the babbling idiot problem and at the same time enhances the node/s/system fail silent behaviour.