Redundancy (engineering)

Redundancy in the field of engineering refers to the duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system, usually in the case of a backup or fail-safe.

Overview

In engineering, redundancy is the duplication of critical components or functions in a system to increase its reliability. Redundancy is used in a variety of contexts, including the design of computer hardware, software, and infrastructure, as well as in structural engineering, reliability engineering, and industrial processes.

Types of Redundancy

There are several types of redundancy, including:

• Hardware redundancy: This involves the duplication of physical components, such as hard drives or power supplies, in a system to ensure continued operation in the event of a component failure.
• Software redundancy: This involves the use of multiple software systems to perform the same task, with the intention of ensuring continued operation if one software system fails.
• Information redundancy: This involves the duplication of data in a system to ensure its availability in the event of a data loss incident.
• Time redundancy: This involves performing the same operation multiple times to ensure its correctness.

Applications

Redundancy is used in a variety of applications, including:

• Aviation: Aircraft often have redundant systems to ensure continued operation in the event of a system failure.
• Telecommunications: Redundancy is used in network design to ensure continued operation in the event of a network failure.
• Healthcare: Medical devices often have redundant systems to ensure patient safety in the event of a device failure.

See Also

• Fault tolerance
• High availability
• Reliability engineering