US Patent 7620465 Fault-tolerant node architecture for distributed systems

A distributed architecture system including a plurality of nodes operatively coupled together by a bus. Each node includes a main controller configured to provide data to the bus and to an actuator, and a supervisory controller configured to provide data to the bus and to the actuator. Each node is configured such that during normal operations the main controller provides data to the actuator that controls the actuator and the supervisory controller generally does not provide data to the actuator that controls the actuator. Each node is configured such that if it is determined that the main controller is providing improper data, the supervisory controller provides data to the actuator that controls the actuator and the main controller does not provide data to the actuator that controls the actuator.