CSR---EHS: Software-Modulated Fault Tolerance

微处理器的性能一直在呈指数级增长，这在很大程度上是由于改进的制造技术使晶体管更小、更快。虽然这类晶体管带来了性能提升，但其较低的阈值电压和较窄的噪声容限使其可靠性较低，从而使使用它们的处理器更容易发生瞬时故障。虽然已经提出了许多用于高端系统的容错技术，但这些解决方案的高硬件成本使其不适用于桌面和嵌入式计算市场。该工作提出了软件调制容错(SMFT)的概念，以利用程序中自然产生的非一致性来降低可靠性成本。通过让系统、程序员甚至用户决定何时以及如何应用保护，容错的影响可以调整为最适合不断变化的系统的需求。通过仅在保证的情况下提高可靠性，SMFT释放了资源以提高性能或降低功耗。随着一系列分析器、编译器和语言技术的开发，这项工作允许设计人员在存在瞬时故障的情况下继续针对所有市场扩展处理器性能。

Microprocessor performance has been increasing exponentially due in large part to smaller and faster transistors enabled by improved fabrication technology. While such transistors yield performance enhancements, their lower threshold voltages and tighter noise margins make them less reliable, rendering processors that use them more susceptible to transient faults. While many fault-tolerance techniques have been proposed for high-end systems, the high hardware costs of these solutions make them impractical for the desktop and embedded computing markets.This work develops the concept of software-modulated fault tolerance (SMFT) to reduce the cost of reliability by taking advantage of naturally occurring non-uniformity in programs. By letting the system, the programmer, or even the user decide when and how to apply protection, the impact of fault tolerance can be adapted to best suit the needs of the constantly varying system. By increasing reliability only when warranted, SMFT frees up resources to either increase performance or reduce power. With the development of a set of profiler, compiler, and language techniques, this work allows designers to continue scaling processor performance for all markets despite the presence of transient faults.