Common-mode failure
A failure condition that simultaneously affects multiple identical redundant sensors or systems because it acts on a shared vulnerability. Examples include bright sunlight saturating all cameras on a platform, a glass wall causing all LiDAR units to report free space, or chassis vibration coupling into all accelerometers. Common-mode failures cannot be mitigated by adding more sensors of the same type; they require diversity in sensor operating principles to ensure at least one modality is unaffected by any single environmental condition.
Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 2 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Foundations of Robotics and Physical AI.
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
A failure condition that simultaneously affects multiple identical redundant sensors or systems because it acts on a shared vulnerability. Examples include bright sunlight saturating all cameras on a platform, a glass wall causing all LiDAR units to report free space, or chassis vibration coupling into all accelerometers. Common-mode failures cannot be mitigated by adding more sensors of the same type; they require diversity in sensor operating principles to ensure at least one modality is unaffected by any single environmental condition.
A failure affecting multiple, nominally independent or redundant channels at once because they share an underlying vulnerability (a manufacturing batch, a power supply, a physical location exposed to the same hazard), making the redundancy less protective than it appears.
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.