Active System Integrity Fences

This paper describes the architecture of a WrappingBased Self-Modeling System that includes all of the models and processes we have mentioned in our previous papers on the subject of methods for mitigating the effects of the Get Stuck theorems. To make the description more concrete, we have selected a particular application domain example: “active system integrity fences”, that protect and defend a complex computing system or network (called the host system) from all enemies, foreign and domestic. An “active integrity fence” sits on an interface between two system components, with an explicit notion of the characteristics expected in the traffic (in both directions), derived from expectations provided at design time and observations collected at run time. We do not describe a particular host system, since our primary interest is in the protector system, and we expect that it applies to any host system for which we can specify the expected internal interactions. We define the relevant models and processes, and how they interact with each other and with the host system. We also provide a short description of the Wrapping infrastructure that holds the system together and organizes and executes all of its behavior, both protective and mission.