SATE AI

Fault Injection Framework for On-Device AI Models in Flutter

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Overview

SATE AI is a fault injection framework for testing on-device AI models in Flutter applications. It simulates real-world failure scenarios — memory pressure, malformed inputs, and model degradation — so developers can validate model reliability before shipping to production.

On-device AI models (Llama, Phi, Gemma, and similar) run directly on user devices where resource constraints are unpredictable. Memory pressure causes out-of-memory crashes mid-inference. Unexpected inputs cause silent failures or exceptions. Without a structured testing approach, these issues surface only in production.

SATE AI provides a pytest-style experience for AI failure modes: wrap your model in an adapter, configure fault injectors, and receive a structured StressReport with pass/fail results, timing data, and serialization to Markdown or JSON for CI/CD pipelines.

Key Benefits

• Identify model failures before users encounter them
• Validate error handling and recovery mechanisms in a controlled environment
• Integrate AI reliability checks into existing CI/CD pipelines
• Reduce production incidents caused by resource exhaustion or unexpected inputs
• Develop against a MockAdapter without requiring a real AI model

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📄 Research Paper

A full research paper describing SATE AI is available:

• 📄 Read the Paper Webpage
• 📥 Download PDF Version
• 📚 View on arXiv (Preprint coming soon)

The paper covers:

• SATE AI architecture with 7 fault injectors and 3 model adapters
• 164 unit/integration tests with 160/160 pub.dev score
• Real-world mobile benchmarks with ONNX and TensorFlow Lite models

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Live App Demos & App Preview

Successful Model Stress Run (pass.gif)	Failure Detection & Exception Report (fail.gif)
TFLite / Mock Adapter passing all stress checks	ONNX Adapter catching shape mismatch failure cleanly

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Features

• Core fault injection engine with a composable FaultInjector interface
• StressRunner for orchestrating multiple injectors with timeout support
• StressReport with JSON, Markdown, and self-contained HTML page serialization (toHtml())
• HTML report export with Chart.js charts and detailed results filtering
• MockAdapter for testing without real AI models
• FllamaAdapter for running Llama, Phi, Gemma models via llama.cpp (Fllama)
• MemoryPressureInjector for RAM out-of-memory simulation
• GpuMemoryPressureInjector for GPU VRAM pressure simulation
• NetworkLatencyDropInjector for simulating network latency, timeouts, and disconnections
• DataCorruptionInjector for simulating corrupted input data (noise, blur, occlusion, glitches)
• ModelVersionMismatchInjector for simulating model version mismatches and fallback
• MalformedInputInjector for input validation testing (empty, oversized, binary garbage)
• SateAI.stress() convenience API for one-call test execution
• Extensible adapter interface for wrapping any on-device AI runtime
• 246 unit tests with full coverage of core modules
• Web dashboard for visualizing stress test reports with charts and exports

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Installation

Add the dependency to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  sate_ai: ^0.7.0

Then run:

flutter pub get

Import the library:

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

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Quick Start

Basic Usage

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
  // Use MockAdapter during development
  final model = MockAdapter(modelId: 'my-llm-v1');

  // Run a stress test with multiple fault injectors
  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [
      MemoryPressureInjector(limitMb: 100),
      MalformedInputInjector(),
    ],
    timeout: const Duration(seconds: 60),
  );

  // Check results
  if (report.passed) {
    print('✅ Model passed all stress tests.');
  } else {
    print('❌ Model failed: ${report.failureCount} failure(s) detected.');
    print(report.toMarkdown());
  }

  // Export to JSON for CI/CD
  final json = report.toJsonString();
  print(json);
}

Advanced: Using Multiple Injectors

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

Future<void> testWithMultipleInjectors() async {
  final model = MockAdapter(modelId: 'advanced-test');

  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [
      MemoryPressureInjector(limitMb: 150),
      MalformedInputInjector(),
      QuantizationDriftInjector(
        driftFactor: 0.1,
        degradationThreshold: 0.3,
      ),
      ThermalThrottleInjector(
        model: model,
        temperatureStep: 10,
        maxTemperature: 85,
      ),
    ],
  );

  // Check individual results
  for (final result in report.results) {
    print('${result.injectorType.displayName}: ${result.passed ? "✅" : "❌"}');
    if (result.memoryUsageMB != null) {
      print('  Memory: ${result.memoryUsageMB} MB');
    }
  }

  if (!report.passed) {
    for (final failure in report.failures) {
      print('⚠️ ${failure.injectorType.displayName}: ${failure.message}');
    }
  }
}

Custom Model Adapter

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

class MyCustomModelAdapter implements AIModelAdapter {
  final String _modelId;
  double _currentMemoryMB = 0;
  bool _isDegraded = false;

  MyCustomModelAdapter(this._modelId);

  @override
  String get modelId => _modelId;

  @override
  double get currentMemoryMB => _currentMemoryMB;

  @override
  bool get isDegraded => _isDegraded;

  @override
  Future<AIOutput> runInference(AIInput input) async {
    // Call your model runtime here
    final startTime = DateTime.now();
    // Simulate runtime inference...
    return AIOutput(
      text: 'Mock response',
      inferenceTime: DateTime.now().difference(startTime),
      confidence: 0.95,
      metadata: const {'custom': true},
    );
  }

  @override
  Future<void> simulateMemoryPressure(int mb) async {
    _currentMemoryMB += mb.toDouble();
    if (_currentMemoryMB > 150) {
      _isDegraded = true;
    }
  }

  @override
  Future<void> reset() async {
    _currentMemoryMB = 0;
    _isDegraded = false;
  }

  @override
  Future<bool> isHealthy() async {
    return !_isDegraded && _currentMemoryMB < 150;
  }
}

void main() async {
  final model = MyCustomModelAdapter('my-custom-model');
  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [MemoryPressureInjector(limitMb: 120)],
  );
  print(report.passed ? '✅ Passed' : '❌ Failed');
}

Custom Fault Injector

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

class CustomLatencyInjector implements FaultInjector {
  int _injections = 0;

  @override
  FaultType get type => FaultType.latency;

  @override
  String get name => 'Custom Latency Injector';

  @override
  String get description => 'Adds 100ms latency per injection';

  @override
  Future<void> inject() async {
    _injections++;
    await Future.delayed(Duration(milliseconds: 100 * _injections));
  }

  @override
  Future<void> reset() async {
    _injections = 0;
    await Future.delayed(Duration.zero);
  }
}

void main() async {
  final model = MockAdapter();
  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [CustomLatencyInjector()],
  );
  print(report.passed ? '✅ Passed' : '❌ Failed');
}

CI/CD Integration

# .github/workflows/test-ai.yml
name: AI Model Testing

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
      - run: flutter pub get
      - run: |
          dart run sate_ai \
            --model models/model.gguf \
            --injectors memoryPressure,malformedInput \
            --output report.json
      - name: Upload Report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: ai-test-report
          path: report.json

Real-World Scenario: Testing a Chatbot Model

import 'dart:io';
import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

Future<void> testChatbotModel() async {
  // Simulate a chatbot model
  final model = MockAdapter(modelId: 'chatbot-v1');

  // Test different failure scenarios
  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [
      // Test memory pressure (OOM scenarios)
      MemoryPressureInjector(limitMb: 200),
      
      // Test malformed user inputs
      MalformedInputInjector(),
      
      // Test model quality degradation over time
      QuantizationDriftInjector(
        driftFactor: 0.15,
        degradationThreshold: 0.4,
      ),
    ],
    timeout: const Duration(seconds: 45),
  );

  // Generate a readable report
  if (report.passed) {
    print('✅ Chatbot model is reliable under stress!');
  } else {
    print('❌ Chatbot model needs improvement:');
    for (final failure in report.failures) {
      print('  - ${failure.injectorType.displayName}: ${failure.message}');
    }
  }

  // Export for documentation
  final markdown = report.toMarkdown();
  await File('chatbot-test-report.md').writeAsString(markdown);
}

Real-World Scenario: Testing an Image Classifier

import 'package:sate_ai/sate_ai.dart';

Future<void> testImageClassifier() async {
  final model = MockAdapter(modelId: 'image-classifier-v1');

  final report = await SateAI.stress(
    model: model,
    injectors: [
      // Test thermal throttling (mobile devices)
      ThermalThrottleInjector(
        model: model,
        temperatureStep: 15,
        maxTemperature: 80,
      ),
      
      // Test model corruption (model swap scenario)
      ModelSwapInjector(
        initialQuality: 1.0,
        qualityDegradation: 0.2,
        qualityThreshold: 0.4,
      ),
    ],
  );

  if (!report.passed) {
    print('⚠️ Image classifier degraded under stress:');
    for (final result in report.results) {
      if (!result.passed) {
        print('  - ${result.injectorType.displayName}: FAILED');
        if (result.memoryUsageMB != null) {
          print('    Memory: ${result.memoryUsageMB} MB');
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Using the CLI

# Install the CLI
flutter pub global activate sate_ai

# Run a basic stress test
sate_ai --model model.gguf --injectors memoryPressure,malformedInput

# Run with all injectors and save report
sate_ai \
  --model model.gguf \
  --injectors memoryPressure,malformedInput,quantizationDrift,thermalThrottle \
  --output report.json \
  --timeout 60

# Get a Markdown report
sate_ai --model model.gguf --injectors memoryPressure --markdown

Best Practices

1. Start Simple: Begin with 1-2 injectors and gradually add more.
2. Test Early: Run stress tests early in your development cycle.
3. Monitor Memory: Always check memoryUsageMB to catch memory leaks.
4. Export Reports: Save reports to track model reliability over time.
5. Integrate with CI: Add SATE AI to your CI/CD pipeline for automated testing.

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Adapters

An AIModelAdapter wraps any on-device AI runtime and exposes a uniform interface for running inference and inspecting model state.

Adapter	Status	Notes
MockAdapter	Available	Simulates memory pressure and degradation for testing
OnnxAdapter	Available	Wraps onnxruntime ^1.4.1 (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows)
TensorFlow Lite	Available	Wraps tflite_flutter
FllamaAdapter	Available	Wraps fllama for Llama-family models
MediaPipeAdapter	Available	Wraps Google ML Kit (MediaPipe)
CoreMLAdapter	Available	Wraps Apple Core ML (iOS)
GoogleMLKitAdapter	Available	Wraps Google ML Kit (Simulated)

Writing a Custom Adapter

class MyModelAdapter implements AIModelAdapter {
  @override
  String get modelId => 'my-model-v1';

  @override
  Future<AIOutput> runInference(AIInput input) async {
    // Call your model runtime here.
    final result = await myRuntime.infer(input.text);
    return AIOutput(
      text: result,
      inferenceTime: Duration(milliseconds: 120),
      confidence: 0.92,
    );
  }

  @override
  Future<bool> isHealthy() async => myRuntime.isAvailable;

  @override
  double get currentMemoryMB => myRuntime.memoryUsage.toDouble();
}

---

Fault Injectors

A FaultInjector simulates a specific failure mode by manipulating the model adapter's state before inference runs.

Injector	Status	Fault Type
MemoryPressureInjector	Available	memoryPressure
MalformedInputInjector	Available	malformedInput
QuantizationDriftInjector	Available	Simulates gradual precision loss
ThermalThrottleInjector	Available	Simulates CPU thermal throttling
LatencyInjector	Available	Simulates increasing inference latency
ModelSwapInjector	Available	Simulates model corruption
ConfidenceThresholdInjector	Available	Validates model confidence stays above threshold

Writing a Custom Injector

class MyLatencyInjector implements FaultInjector {
  @override
  FaultType get type => FaultType.latency;

  @override
  String get name => 'My Latency Injector';

  @override
  String get description => 'Simulates CPU throttling under sustained thermal load.';

  @override
  Future<void> inject() async {
    // Add artificial latency to simulate a throttled CPU.
    await Future.delayed(const Duration(seconds: 2));
  }

  @override
  Future<void> reset() async {
    // No persistent state to clean up.
  }
}

---

Architecture

sate_ai/
  lib/src/
    core/
      fault_type.dart          - FaultType enum
      fault_injector.dart      - FaultInjector abstract interface
      stress_runner.dart       - Orchestration engine
      report.dart              - StressReport, FaultResult, Failure
    adapters/
      model_adapter.dart       - AIModelAdapter interface, AIInput, AIOutput
      mock_adapter.dart        - MockAdapter for testing
    injectors/
      memory_pressure_injector.dart
      malformed_input_injector.dart
  lib/sate_ai.dart             - Public API barrel export
  test/                        - 164 unit tests
  example/                     - Flutter demo application

Fault Injection Execution Workflow

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CI/CD Integration

SATE AI is designed to run in CI/CD pipelines. Use the JSON output to fail a build when a model regresses under stress:

final report = await SateAI.stress(
  model: MyModelAdapter(),
  injectors: [
    MemoryPressureInjector(limitMb: 200),
    MalformedInputInjector(),
  ],
);

if (!report.passed) {
  // Write report artifact and exit with error code.
  File('stress_report.json').writeAsStringSync(report.toJsonString());
  exit(1);
}

A GitHub Actions workflow for CI is included in the repository at .github/workflows/test.yml.

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Documentation

• API Reference
• Contributing Guide
• Example Application
• Changelog
• Web Dashboard - Visualize stress test reports

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read the Contributing Guide before submitting a pull request.

Good first issues are labeled good first issue and cover:

• Additional fault injectors
• New model adapters (Fllama, Whisper)
• Documentation improvements
• Additional test coverage

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/assassinaj602/sate_ai.git
cd sate_ai
flutter pub get
flutter test
flutter analyze

Command Line Interface

SATE AI provides a CLI for running stress tests from the terminal.

Installation

flutter pub global activate sate_ai

Usage

sate_ai --model path/to/model.gguf --injectors memoryPressure,malformedInput

Options:

• --model, -m – Path to model file (required)
• --injectors, -i – Comma-separated list of injectors
• --timeout, -t – Timeout per test (seconds)
• --output, -o – Save report to file
• --markdown, -md – Output as Markdown instead of JSON
• --help, -h – Show help

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for the full text.

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Links

• GitHub Repository
• Issue Tracker
• Discussions
• pub.dev Package
• Changelog
• Contributors

Libraries

sate_ai

SATE AI — Fault Injection Framework for On-Device AI.

sate_ai_cli

CLI-safe library for SATE AI — no Flutter SDK dependency.