On Enhancing the Reliability of Internal Configuration Controllers in FPGAs

Ali Ebrahim*, Tughrul Arslan, Xabier Iturbe

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

In fault-tolerant FPGA systems, the internal reconfiguration capabilities supported in modern FPGAs is commonly utilized for enhanced fault mitigation. In such systems, faults in the internal configuration controller can degrade the fault-tolerance of the system and in extreme cases can lead to additional faults injected into the system. In this paper we present different methods for enhancing the reliability of internal configuration controllers in FPGAs. We demonstrate the design of a custom ICAP controller for Xilinx Virtex FPGAs and compare the reliability and area overhead for Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) design schemes. We also evaluate the effectiveness of internal readback and external configuration memory scrubbing and show how a combination of the two methods can reduce the number of single points of failure in the system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2014 NASA/ESA CONFERENCE ON ADAPTIVE HARDWARE AND SYSTEMS (AHS)
Place of PublicationNEW YORK
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages83-88
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2014
EventNASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems (AHS) - Leicester, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Jul 201417 Jul 2014

Publication series

NameNASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems
PublisherIEEE
ISSN (Print)1939-7003

Conference

ConferenceNASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems (AHS)
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
Period14/07/1417/07/14

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • component
  • FPGA
  • Fault-Tolerance
  • Internal Configuration Controller
  • REDUNDANCY
  • RECONFIGURATION
  • DESIGN
  • ERRORS
  • LOGIC

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