Non-intrusive automatic compiler-guided reliability improvement of embedded applications under proton irradiation

Abstract

COTS processors are not designed to cope with the harmful effects of radiation and, because of their nature, traditional hardware redundant techniques can not be applied to their structural components. A potential software method for modifying the reliability without instrumenting the code is operating the way programs are built (compiled). Modern compilers, such as GNU-GCC offer a set of optimizations which are intended to reduce the code size or the execution. However, they do not offer any predefined optimization associated with reliability improvements. The goal of this research is twofold: Demonstrate that the fault tolerance of embedded software can be improved just by selecting the appropriated compilation parameters and optimizations. And propose an automatic exploration strategy for tunning the compilation process focused on softerror mitigation