A Virtual Device for Simulation-Based Fault Injection

Abstract

This paper describes the design and implementation of a virtual device to perform simulation-based fault injection campaigns. The virtual device is fully compatible with the same user software that is already being used to perform fault injection campaigns in existing FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)-based hardware devices. Multiple instances of the virtual device can be launched in parallel in order to speed-up the fault injection campaigns, without any preexisting limitations on number, such as available license seats, since the virtual device can be compiled with the open-source simulator GHDL. This virtual device also allows one to find bugs in both software and firmware, and to reproduce in simulation, with total visibility of the internal states, corner cases that may have occurred in the real hardware.

A Cross-Disciplinary Outlook of Directions and Challenges in Industrial Electronics

“…FOSS tools may enable unexpected ways of using the tools, as they are not subject to usage, licensing, or modification restrictions. For example, without even modifying the tools, a user can launch any number of instances of the GHDL simulator, limited only by available computing power, and not the number of available license seats [45]. Furthermore, since the tools allow studying and modifying their source code, this can be a further enabler for innovation.…”

Radiation-Tolerant Electronics

“…The technique has the potential of doublefault masking with a <2% increase in resource overhead cost compared to TMR, while offering a more than an order of magnitude increase in reliability improvement factor (RIF). Article [8] describes the design and implementation of a virtual device to perform simulation-based fault injection campaigns in existing FPGA (field-programmable gate array)-based hardware devices. Multiple instances of the virtual device can be launched in parallel in order to speed up the fault injection campaigns.…”