Versatile architecture-level fault injection framework for reliability evaluation: A first report

Abstract

Forthcoming technologies hold the promise of a significant increase in integration density, performance and functionality. However, a dramatic change in microprocessor's reliability is also expected. Developing mechanisms for early and accurate reliability estimation will save significant design effort, resources and consequently will positively impact product's time-to-market (TTM). In this paper, we propose a versatile architecture-level fault injection framework, built on top of a state-of-the-art x86 microprocessor simulator, for thorough and fast characterization of a wide range of hardware components with respect to various fault models.