Structured Storm
- 17 minutes read - 3456 wordsAn alarm jolted Tim awake. Not the regular alarm, something different. Two years in space, and he had not heard this alarm since it had been tested shortly after his arrival. Getting up, he quickly moved over to his console. A portion of the station was not responding.
A decade earlier, Tim placed the geometric shape on the table in front of the investors. The metal was dull, reflecting shadows of objects and dimming any sources of light, even the candle on the table. Three of the four investors kept eating their steak, the fourth wiped her mouth as she finished chewing.
Erin placed her napkin on the table. “My team convinced me to come, I assume in a manner similar to these other gentlemen. Supposedly, this is going to revolutionize the space industry.”
Tim hadn’t taken a bite of the main course, yet. He nodded in reply.
“So, what are we looking at?” Erin asked.
“For some time, many people have been working on the concept of structures in space. It takes a lot of money to get anything up into space, and we are not at the point of being able to manufacture in space. What we have in orbit cannot readily be re-purposed. As such, we are looking for a solution.”
“Everyone here knows this,” retorted Erin. “Since you are bringing it up, are we to assume this object in front of us can solve the problem?”
Tim smiled. “We hope. We admit fully that we are standing on the backs of existing researchers. The use of truncated octahedrons was a fantastic idea, a shape that can fit together on many ways to create a multitude of configurations useful in space.”
One of the other investors spoke up, “Um, what is a truncated octahedron?”
“Well, Bob, basically it’s a geometric shape that has eight hexagons and six squares,” he said, gesturing with his hands. “What you see in front of you, but with all sides solid. We refer to them as T.O.’s, for short. However, this is actually a truncated octahedron Stewart toroid, or a T.O.S.T.. As you can see, four of the hexagonal faces are missing, the other faces extending inward to create the toroid, allowing for empty space inside of the object, which takes up the same space as a TO. As such, equal-sized TOs and TOSTs can fit together, just like TOs.”
Erin smirked. “To allow channels to be created and changed on the fly.”
“Exactly. Now, of course, channels could be created with just TOs, but it becomes quite inefficient at various scales.”
“And,” Bob interrupted, “the channels serve what purpose?”
“Any purpose. They can be used to move fluids or gases around, or simply as a pathway for electrical or other wiring. Different sizes of TOs and TOSTs can be made from different materials.” Touching the cuff interface on his wrist, Tim activated a command.
The TOST before them disassembled itself, each of the four octagons becoming a small bot with six legs made up of the square exterior faces and triangular interior faces. “We have also created a version of the TOST that is made up of ‘ants,’ or Autonomous Nested Technicians. These independent bots are not quite as strong as a solid TO or TOST, but capable of filling gaps, moving disconnected TOs or TOSTs, or even repairing existing structures.”
From beneath the table, a number of ANTs crawled over the edge and made their way to the middle. They assembled themselves into a series of five TOSTs, a tunnel running between them all. Tim took out two more TOs, placing one near each end. Finally, he took a different colored TO and placed it next to everything before them. One of the square sides of the final TO opened, and out of it rolled many much smaller copper TOs.
“The entire process can be automated,” Tim continued. “The smaller TOs made of copper, CopANTs can move into place connecting in a way that their outside insulates the copper interior, creating a complete wire.”
Before the group a wire built itself, moving through the tunnel created by the TOSTs, connecting the TOs on each end to one another. Tim tapped the TO on one end, and the TO on the other end began to glow.
“Not only can the TOs and TOSTs assemble themselves, they run electrical wiring through the structure, even moving it during reconfiguration, as needed.”
Everyone had stopped eating at this point, most forgetting to put down their forks.
“We are currently testing running optical fiber through these channels with what we are calling OpANTs, and should have those completed in the next few months.”
Erin laughed. “You are making ANTs out of glass?”
Tim smiled. “Um, not quite, but something that can allow light to pass with little loss.”
“And how are these powered?”
“Film batteries, that exist as a layer in each type of the TOs. We have been developing different layers for different purposes. The main TOs themselves have a layer of solar cells above the battery layer, allowing for them to charge. The power can be transferred from one TO to another, if they are connected.”
“So, the main TOs that create the outside of the structure provide the power to the structure?”
“It is possible, depending on the power needs of the station itself. I would still recommend an array of some sort for primary power, but if the solar arrays were to fail the station could reduce its power needs and survive until primary power is restored.”
“And, how do the TOs stay connected to one another, magnetism?”
“No, they are non-magnetic. It’s more of a mix of old and new. Velcro.”
“Velcro?”
“So to speak,” Tim said. “The outer layer of the TOs use nanotechnology, working with another TO to make a nanobond, sort of like hook and loop. The result is completely airtight and nearly impossible to break apart, the two faces essentially become a solid. The most amazing part is that no electrical energy is required to maintain the bond, only change it, much like e-ink used in the electronic reading devices of old.”
For the first time, Jim spoke up. “Even if you get all of this to work, you still have a problem.”
Tim turned his head to look at Jim. “What problem is that?”
“The same problem that exists for anything in space, getting enough of these up to space to actually build a structure of any meaningful size.”
“They do not weigh very much.”
Jim rubbed his tongue along his teeth. “You still have the problem of volume.”
Tim dropped his hands to his lap. “I think I have an answer.”
Jim cross his arms. “I’m all ears.”
“You know the rockets that could haul these things into space?”
Jim nodded.
“We build them out of TOs.”
A call buzzed on his terminal, he answered.
“Tim, we are losing connection to a large group of TOs,” Erin said.
At first, Tim had hated the idea of Erin coming up to the station, but she was the primary investor and an engineer herself. She had learned everything she could about every technology involved, and even joined the group designing the TOs. Given her insights, everyone agreed she was as much a part of the group as anyone else.
“Any idea what happened?”
“We were struck by something small, reconfiguration of the affected part of the station began, but all logs since then are missing?”
“Missing?”
Erin looked up at the camera. “They are not there.”
Tim quickly began checking the files. She was right, the event logs associated with the incident seemed to end abruptly. Looking at the status logs, that portion of the station also stopped transmitting logs. Finding a TO close to the affected part of the station, Tim looked at its status log, which updated every five seconds. Tim counted quietly, watching the status come in, nothing out of the ordinary. But, then it stopped.
“Or, they are not getting to us.”
“What?”
“One moment.” Tim looked at the overall memory used by all the status logs of all the TOs. Over time, it was decreasing. Slowly, but still decreasing. He continued at his terminal.
> TO network total status connected count tail increment minute 1 time 10
TO Devices Status Connected
-- ------- ------ ---------
Time Total
---- -----
20790608.04171107 201019
20790608.04181107 200173
20790608.04191107 199217
20790608.04201107 198401
20790608.04211107 187553
20790608.04221107 186601
20790608.04231107 185739
20790608.04241107 184888
20790608.04251107 183001
20790608.04261107 182127
“We’re losing TOs,” Tim said.
“What?”
“Almost a thousand a second, need to cut comms between them.” Tim worked to select a slice of TOs on either side of the affected part of the station, and quickly put them into a blocked state where they would not communicate with any other TOs. Checking the counts again, he found it worked. “Okay, I’ve stopped the spread.”
“What’s going on?” Erin asked.
“I’m not sure, let’s meet at Command and get eyes on everything.”
A few minutes later both arrived at the command center, wearing matching black hoodies, proclaiming “TOs make the best toast!” It was an inside joke from development, before they had scaled up the size of the TOs. For weeks, they had been eating sandwiches, when Mike had enough. He programmed the TOs they were developing to make themselves into a toaster. Still not pleased, the next day they had arrived to find a panini press awaiting them at lunch. The next week, Erin had shown up with the sweatshirts. From that point on, the T.O.S.T.’s were call “toasts” instead of “tosts.”
Looking out the observation window, Erin said, “It doesn’t look like we lost power, I see lights on in the station.”
“That’s good news, let’s see what else we can figure out. Want to check the diagnostics on the other systems?”
“Nothing’s in alarm,” Erin replied. “Power, water, air, temperature, all are nominal. All systems seem operational.”
“Good news. If anyone else was here, they wouldn’t have died.”
“Yeah, but people will be here in a couple of weeks, we need to get this sorted out.”
Tim nodded. “Of course. We cannot have a third of our station unable to reconfigure itself.”
“So, what do we know?”
“Early logs do show some sort of collision, something small ran into the station.”
“But, the TOs are supposed to be able to handle that by reconfiguring themselves, rerouting everything, as needed, including themselves, right?”
“Yes.”
Erin sat down. “Okay, so what can stop them from reconfiguring themselves?”
“If doing so would potentially harm a person.”
“But, we’re the only two people here, neither of us was anywhere near that part of the station.”
Tim checked the sensors to see if anything was out of the ordinary. There was nothing. The data being fed into the TO network showed nothing irregular. “Yeah, and none of the sensors are malfunctioning, the system doesn’t see anyone else aboard but the two of us.”
“Should we walk down there and take a look?”
“I’m not sure that would help.”
“Something could go wrong?”
Tim shook his head. “No, nothing like that, the station is fine. There are no leaks or major damage to the composed structure. We would be perfectly safe walking around, nothing there has changed.”
“So, nothing for us to find or see.”
“No, nothing at all. It has to be the TO network itself.”
“Send an ANT?” Erin asked.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea. We can send a few to work together, one with a camera to give us eyes on everything. Can you send a team?”
“Yeah, let me see what’s close.” Erin logged into the Collaborative Online Locomotion Order Network Interface. ANTs from all over the station were connected to the system, but quite a few were non-responsive, as well. “COLONI shows the ANTs seem to be affected by the same issue as the TOs.”
“Makes sense, they use the same network. Let’s start there and do some expirimentation.”
“We set up a hundred or so cameras using ANTs, going to use a couple of those teams to move closer.” Erin programmed the two teams work together. Since the camera feed was disconnected whenever a team moved, the first would connect to the system and watch the second as it moved. She put the video on the main screen for them to watch.
The video feed would switch every few meters. When it did, they watched as the team of ANTs disassembled and detached from the hull of the station, and then carried the small camera with them to their next location where they reassembled. The feed would switch, and the other team repeated the maneuver until they were both close to the unresponsive part of the station.
“Now what?” Erin asked.
Tim leaned back in his chair. “Pan the cameras a little, do we see any other ANTs, any other cameras, on the bad side?”
The screen showed both cameras moving around. In the distance, they could see what could be a camera team, or another ANT, far away. They were lucky the Sun was highlighting this part of the station, or nothing would have been visible.
“Nothing to go on. Okay, time to experiment. Let’s use one of the teams to watch as we use a single ANT from the other team to traverse to the affected side.”
“How far do you want it to move?”
“Let’s go for three meters. What’s the AID?”
“ANT ID 414e54:003137.”
Tim put the logs for that ANT up on a secondary screen. “Go ahead.”
Erin issued the command and the ANT moved across the threshold. It seemed to slow as it moved farther, but made it a full three meters across. The logs showed the power and network connections come online when it connected to the new TO, but then no more logs appeared. The status of the ANT changed to disconnected in COLONI.
Erin pursed her lips and blew out slowly. “Well, at least we know the affected part of the station spreads. What is it, a virus or something? How could something like that even get up here?” She gasped. “Did someone sabotage us? Send something up here that was able to connect to the TO network and set something malicious loose?”
Tim shook his head. “I don’t think so, but, um, since you bring that up, we really do need to consider that as a possibility in the future. Might also want to put the ANTs on their own separate network.”
“Okay, so what now?”
“Now we get our ANT back.”
“How?”
“Good question. So, I stopped the spread by disabling the networking on a slice of TOs. When whatever is going on reached that slice, they could not communicate with those TOs, and that apparently stopped it from spreading further. Essentially, I cut them off from communicating with other TOs.” Tim paused for a moment to think. “Let’s set an ANT with a preprogrammed path that goes around the ANT we just sent and comes back, have it stop and bond a few times. Before the preprogrammed path launches, we can have it shut down its networking and only bring it back on after it completes the maneuver.”
“If that works, it proves that the networking is the issue.”
“Correct.”
Erin began writing the program into the system. “Want to watch its logs?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
She gave him the AID and he brought the logs up on the secondary screen. When she saw them scrolling, she activated the maneuver. After a few moments the ANT walked across the threshold. It moved around the disabled ANT and returned to the other side. Another couple of seconds and the logs began scrolling again.
Erin breathed out, not realizing she had been holding her breath. “Okay, its the network.”
Tim smiled.
“What?”
“Back when I was in school, I worked for the IT office. The network and systems guys were always blaming one another. ‘Guilty until proven innocent,’ was a phrase often said.”
“Funny.”
“Yeah. Anyway. We cannot get the logs from the disabled ANT.”
“We cannot use the other ANTs to go get it, turning off their networking?”
“They wouldn’t be able to move it, right now it is bonded with the TO. Without the networking active on the bonded ANT, it cannot unbind itself. While it’s a pain in our current situation, at the very least we didn’t lose all of the ANTs from the disabled part of the station, they would have all floated away!”
“Good point. But, how do we get the logs?”
“Okay. The ANT has a finite amount of memory. We can set a small program to allow in as much as it can store, save enough to run itself, then cut the network connection and return.”
“I might need some help with that.”
“All good.”
Together they programmed the ANT to walk over a half meter, bond, wait until a certain amount of data entered, then trigger a network shutdown, and finally retrace its path back to where it started. Only after it had returned, would it reconnect to the network. Erin activated the maneuver.
On the screen they watched as the ANT walked over and then immediately returned.”
“What did we do wrong?” Erin asked.
“Wait for it,” Tim said, pointing to the other screen.
Logs flooded the screen, tens of thousands of logs scrolling far faster than either of them could read. When it got to the end, Tim began scrolling through the logs, pages at a time. He began laughing.
“What?”
“That shouldn’t be happening!”
“You know what’s going on?”
“Yeah, it’s a broadcast storm.”
Erin asked, “A what?”
“Well, when we built these, we added very rudimentary networking, so that they would all communicate with one another and could also communicate with our main systems for command and control. We put in some controls of course, which should have stopped this sort of thing from happening, but must of missed something. So, when a physical loop is introduced into networking, the systems themselves can send out a message, receive that message, and then send it out again. Very quickly, exponentially, these messages increase, until they overwhelm the network resources, bringing the network to a standstill.”
“Nothing to stop it?”
“Well, not exactly. You see, basic network topologies do not typically include physical loops. The TOs communicate with everyone one of their neighbors. Even three TOs can create a physical loop. As such, it is hard to imagine the amount of physical loops possible in the TO network in a station of this size. We built logic into the system to stop this sort of things from happening.”
Tim looked through the logs, highlighting a few of them on screen. “These logs that are looping are all related to command and control logic. They are all only supposed to go in one direction, the path to the C&C controller. However, they appear to be looping through the ANT again and again when it was connected to the affected part of the station, creating a storm of traffic.”
“How do we solve it?”
“In old networking, the problem was solved by the spanning-tree protocol, invented by Radia Perlman, also known as the ‘Mother of the Internet.’”
“Never heard of her.”
“Most people have not, she was born in the 1950s. She came up with some improvements and even a replacement, eventually.” Tim did a quick search, reading through the results. “Actually, this will be perfect for our situation, even though it is rarely used anymore.”
“What’s that?”
“TRILL. Our systems only rely on layer 2 networking, and TRILL should work wonderfully with the TO network.”
“How long will it take?”
“We can start working on it with the team, get some testing done, then implementation in a week or so. We will want to roll it out in phases. In the meantime, we could isolate the problematic TO, likely the one struck, to make such a deployment easier.”
“Now you are starting to speak my language,” Erin said, smiling. “The networking nano layer on the TOs can be reconfigured once we have the redesign. We can duplicate a C&C system, attach it to the a the patched TO and move it onto affected part of the station. The load should decrease to connected TOs, then we turn off the networking on the closest TOs, except to our C&C, patch them, turn back on, rinse and repeat until everything is patched. Once everything is patched, we will know which one is the problematic TO and be able to replace. No need to even waste time finding it ahead of time!”
Tim grinned. “Brilliant. Let’s get to work.”