A Vision for Leveraging Product Information and Log Files to Enable Smart-Troubleshooting of Heterogeneous Interconnected Devices

Abstract

Smart-troubleshooting refers to the semiautomatic process that identifies system failures, matches them with relevant troubleshooting information, and applies recovery or reconfiguration actions. The concept of smarttroubleshooting originates from the necessity to manage the increasing complexity of interconnected devices in environments like human robot interaction, smart cities, Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, and cyber-physical systems. Smart-troubleshooting remains incomplete, with existing studies addressing only parts of the problem. We propose a methodology that integrates product information and log files, enabling data collection, analysis, and synthesis to enhance system resilience and enable self-healing. First, we describe the methodology that implements the vision of smart-troubleshooting by integrating product information and log files to automate failure detection and resolution in interconnected systems. The methodology introduces key innovations by automating the correlation of failures through the integration of product data and log files, detecting real-time patterns using data mining techniques, and incorporating a feedback loop that allows the system to continuously improve its response to future issues. We validate the methodology through a mixed methods approach, using surveys and interviews to gather expert feedback and assess its practical applicability. In particular, we distributed the survey to 40 practitioners in the maintenance domain. We extracted, analyzed, and synthesized the survey data, complementing it with qualitative insights from four online, semi-structured, in-depth interviews.