This work presents a solution for error detection in ARM microprocessors based on the use of the trace infrastructure. This approach uses the Program and Instrumentation Trace Macrocells that are part of ARM's CoreSight™ architecture to detect control-flow and data-flow errors, respectively. The proposed approach has been tested with low-energy protons. Experimental results demonstrate high accuracy with up to 95% of observed errors detected in a commercial microprocessor with no hardware modification. In addition, it is shown how the proposed approach can be useful for further analysis and diagnosis of the cause of errors.

A method is presented for automated improvement of embedded application reliability. The compilation process is guided using Genetic Algorithms and a Multi-Objective Optimization Approach (MOOGA). Even though modern compilers are not designed to generate reliable builds, they can be tuned to obtain compilations that improve their reliability, through simultaneous optimization of their fault coverage, execution time, and memory size. Experiments show that relevant reliability improvements can be obtained from efficient exploration of the compilation solutions space. Fault-injection simulation campaigns are performed to assess our proposal against different benchmarks and the results are assessed against a real ARM-based System on Chip under proton irradiation.

This work analyzes the suitability of SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) extensions of current microprocessors under radiation environments. SIMD extensions are intended for software acceleration, focusing mostly in applications that require high computational effort, which are common in many fields such as computer vision. SIMD extensions use a dedicated coprocessor that makes possible packing several instructions in one single extended instruction. Applications that require high performance could benefit from the use of SIMD coprocessors, but their reliability needs to be studied. In this work NEON™, the SIMD coprocessor of ARM microprocessors, has been selected as a case study to explore the behavior of SIMD extensions under radiation. Radiation experiments of ARM CORTEX™-A9 microprocessor have been accomplished with the objective of determining how the use of this kind of coprocessors can affect the system reliability.

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This work presents a hybrid error detection architecture that uses ARM PTM trace interface to observe ARM microprocessor behaviour. The proposed approach is suitable for COTS microprocessors because it does not modify the microprocessor architecture and is able to detect errors thanks to the reuse of its trace subsystem. Validation has been performed by proton irradiation and fault injection campaigns on a Zynq AP SoC including a Cortex-A9 ARM microprocessor and an implementation of the proposed hardware monitor in programmable logic. Experimental results demonstrate that a high error detection rate can be achieved on a commercial microprocessor.

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GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are promising next-generation devices in the power electronics field which can coexist with silicon semiconductors, mainly in some radiation-intensive environments, such as power space converters, where high frequencies and voltages are also needed. Its wide band gap (WBG), large breakdown electric field, and thermal stability improve actual silicon performances. However, at the moment, GaN HEMT technology suffers from some reliability issues, one of the more relevant of which is the dynamic on-state resistance (RON_dyn) regarding power switching converter applications. In this study, we focused on the drain-to-source on-resistance (RDSON) characteristics under 60Co gamma radiation of two different commercial power GaN HEMT structures. Different bias conditions were applied to both structures during irradiation and some static measurements, such as threshold voltage and leakage currents, were performed. Additionally, dynamic resistance was measured to obtain practical information about device trapping under radiation during switching mode, and how trapping in the device is affected by gamma radiation. The experimental results showed a high dependence on the HEMT structure and the bias condition applied during irradiation. Specifically, a free current collapse structure showed great stability until 3.7 Mrad(Si), unlike the other structure tested, which showed high degradation of the parameters measured. The changes were demonstrated to be due to trapping effects generated or enhanced by gamma radiation. These new results obtained about RON_dyn will help elucidate trap behaviors in switching transistors.

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are hardware security primitives that are increasingly being used for authentication and key generation in ICs and FPGAs. For space systems, they are a promising approach to meet the needs for secure communications at low cost. To this purpose, it is essential to determine if they are reliable in the space radiation environment. In this work we evaluate the Total Ionizing Dose effects on a delay-based PUF implemented in SRAM-FPGA, namely a Ring Oscillator PUF. Several major quality metrics have been used to analyze the evolution of the PUF response with the total ionizing dose. Experimental results demonstrate that total ionizing dose has a perceptible effect on the quality of the PUF response, but it could still be used for space applications by making some appropriate corrections.