Design Methods and Architectures of Reliable and Dependable Microelectronic Systems

这个拟议的项目侧重于在具有严格可靠性要求的环境中使用商用现成(COTS)集成电路(IC)和微电子技术。事实上，2011年和2012年推出的旗舰处理器和现场可编程门阵列(FGA)采用28纳米技术制造，包含多达70亿个晶体管。当这些技术用于实现专用集成电路(ASIC)或集成电路上的系统(SoC)时，与这些技术相关的非经常性工程(NRE)成本上升到很少有人能够承受的水平。例如，即使在充分利用现有设计方法的情况下，从头开始设计并将新的复杂SoC推向市场的成本也在1亿美元左右。随着处理器和现场可编程门阵列的不断改进，大幅削减NRES的可编程和可配置器件可以满足越来越多的应用程序的需求。这对在可靠的应用程序中使用COTS复杂组件提出了强烈的需求。该建议涉及，首先，研究指导和支持设计人员实现有效解决方案的设计方法和体系结构；其次，提出基于可靠性较低的COTS组件来设计可靠系统的方法。第一个主要问题是，大多数现有的IC都是为了满足大容量应用的要求而开发的，对这些应用来说，可靠性和可靠性充其量只是次要的考虑因素。此外，现有的技术和体系结构更倾向于平均性能而不是最坏情况的性能，并且它们的复杂性使得很难保证精确的最坏情况的性能。存储器和现场可编程门阵列的另一个主要问题是它们对引起IC中瞬变和错误的单粒子效应(SEE)的敏感性。拟议研究的高级目标是：1)调查指导和支持有效解决方案的设计过程的设计方法和体系结构；2)探索用非专门为此设计的部件制造更可靠和可靠的电子系统的方法。我们特别提出了设计具有复杂嵌入组件的集成系统的研究方法，以及对普遍存在的宇宙射线引起的单粒子效应(SEE)进行建模和缓解的方法。这些高级目标被细化为以下具体目标：a)提出并验证用于开发将嵌入式处理器与硬件支持相结合的系统的节能实现的新方法；b)提出并验证用于建模和抽象SEE的方法，以及用于验证所产生系统的稳健性的方法；c)改进故障特征建模方法；d)包括SEE缓解技术的基于FPGA的系统的模型可靠性和可靠性。这项工作的重要性源于电子系统的无处不在的性质以及我们日常生活中对这些技术的日益依赖，当COTS组件出于经济原因被广泛应用于关键应用时，这可能是一个真正令人担忧的问题。使用这项研究得出的方法，开发人员将更好地了解在哪里、何时、为什么以及如何采用COTS技术来满足各种形式的电子系统的可靠性和可靠性要求。该建议不仅针对纯粹的发现型贡献，而且还旨在提供一个极好的框架，以培训高素质的人员，使发现研究工作与加拿大工业和社会相关，并利用先进的电子系统设计方法、最先进的计算机辅助设计工具和实施实用电子系统的技术来发展深厚的知识和技能。

This proposed project focuses on using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integrated circuits (ICs) and microelectronic technologies in environments that have stringent reliability requirements. Indeed, flagship processors and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) introduced in 2011 and 2012, fabricated in 28 nm technologies, contain as many as 7 billion transistors. Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) costs associated with them escalated at levels that few can afford when those technologies are used to implement Application Specific ICs (ASICs) or Systems on an IC (SoCs). For instance, designing from scratch and bringing to market a new complex SoC costs on the order of 100 million dollars, even when existing design methods are fully leveraged. As processors and FPGAs keep improving, programmable and configurable devices that slash NREs can satisfy the needs of a growing set of applications. This sets a strong demand for using COTS complex components in dependable applications. This proposal relates to, first, investigate design methods and architectures that guide and support the designers toward effective solutions, and, second, propose ways to design reliable systems based on less reliable COTS components.The proposed research focuses on several complementary generic concerns. A first main concern is that most existing ICs are developed to meet requirements of high volume applications, for which reliability and dependability are second order considerations at best. Also, existing techniques and architectures favor average performance over worst case performance, and their complexity makes precise worst case performance very difficult to guarantee. Another main concern with memories and FPGAs is their sensitivity to Single Event Effects (SEEs) causing transients and errors in ICs.The high level objectives of the proposed research are: 1) to investigate design methods and architectures that guide and support the design process toward effective solutions and 2) to explore means of making more reliable and dependable electronic systems from components not specifically designed for that. We notably propose investigating means of designing integrated systems with complex embedded components, as well as modeling and mitigation of single event effects (SEEs) caused by ubiquitous cosmic rays. These high level objectives are refined as the following specific objectives: A) Propose and validate new methods for developing energy efficient implementations of systems combining embedded processors with hardware support;B) Propose and validate methods for modeling and abstracting SEEs, and for validating robustness of resulting systems ;C) Refine the faulty signature modeling method;D) Model reliability and dependability of FPGA based systems comprising SEE mitigation techniques.The importance of the work stems from the pervasive nature of electronic systems and the increasing reliance on these technologies in our daily lives, which can be a real concern when COTS components are widely used in critical applications for economic reasons. Using methods resulting from this research, developers will better understand where, when, why, and how COTS technologies can be adopted to meet reliability and dependability requirements of various forms of electronic systems. The proposal not only aims at pure discovery type contributions, but is also structured to provide an excellent framework for training highly qualified personnel at making discovery research work relevant for Canadian industry and for society as well as for developing deep knowledge and skills with advanced electronic system design methods, state-of-the-art computer aided design tools and technologies for implementing practical electronic systems.