A Robust Design Methodology for Fault-Tolerant FPGA Architecture

Abstract

As very large scale integration (VLSI) technology evolves, greater complexity, smaller transistor sizes, and higher densities of integration have rendered circuits more vulnerable to faults resulting from manufacturing defects, aging, environmental influences, and radiation. Fault tolerance in VLSI involves the capability of a system to ensure correct operation despite the occurrence of faults or failures. This ability is essential in applications where high reliability is needed, including aerospace, medical equipment, and safety-critical computing systems. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have become a major technology for the realization of fault-tolerant systems due to their reconfiguration, parallelism, and flexibility. This paper discusses some of the techniques for realizing fault-tolerant FPGAs and why they play a significant role in ensuring fault tolerant operation under failure conditions.