On Resilient Behaviors in Computational Systems and Environments

TL;DR

This paper proposes a dynamic process-based framework for understanding resilience in computational systems, emphasizing the interaction between system behaviors and environmental conditions to define and measure resilience aspects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretative model of resilience as an emergent property from system-environment interactions, providing new definitions and measures for resilience and related concepts.

Findings

Defined resilience as an outcome of dynamic system-environment interactions

Proposed measures for risk of unresilience and optimal resilience-environment match

Illustrated a resilience strategy through a simple scenario

Abstract

The present article introduces a reference framework for discussing resilience of computational systems. Rather than a property that may or may not be exhibited by a system, resilience is interpreted here as the emerging result of a dynamic process. Said process represents the dynamic interplay between the behaviors exercised by a system and those of the environment it is set to operate in. As a result of this interpretation, coherent definitions of several aspects of resilience can be derived and proposed, including elasticity, change tolerance, and antifragility. Definitions are also provided for measures of the risk of unresilience as well as for the optimal match of a given resilient design with respect to the current environmental conditions. Finally, a resilience strategy based on our model is exemplified through a simple scenario.