Using NEXUS compliant debuggers for real time fault injection on microprocessors

• Author(s): Fidalgo, André V. ; Gericota, Manuel G. ; Alves, Gustavo R. ; Ferreira, José M.
• Date: 2006
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/4293
• Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
• Subject(s): Fault injection; Real time systems; On-chip debug
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

As electronic devices get smaller and more complex, dependability assurance is becoming fundamental for many mission critical computer based systems. This paper presents a case study on the possibility of using the on-chip debug infrastructures present in most current microprocessors to execute real time fault injection campaigns. The proposed methodology is based on a debugger customized for fault injection and designed for maximum flexibility, and consists of injecting bit-flip type faults on memory elements without modifying or halting the target application. The debugger design is easily portable and applicable to different architectures, providing a flexible and efficient mechanism for verifying and validating fault tolerant components.