faultRobust

technologyT E C H N O L O G Y
UsageUsage

Single-CPU
The simplest architecture with faultRobust technology is a single-CPU asymmetric solution, where a standard CPU-based microcontroller is complemented by a set of supervisors such as the fRCPU, some instances of the fRMEM e.g. for system sram and tightly-coupled memories, a set of fRBUS for internal interconnects and a set of fRPERI to cover the peripherals.
The choice of which peripheral should be covered is driven by the SRS and FMEA. This solution keeps the gate-count costs for the diagnostic below 30% of the protected logic; it has a very low beta factor and it can be configured to achieve the level of robustness required either for a SIL2 or a SIL3 system.


Dual-CPU

faultRobust is also suitable for multiprocessors architectures and it can be used to implement or complement lock-step or mutual redundant solutions. The two CPUs share an fRCPU that includes two CPU checking units. The System Control Unit acts like the comparator of a dual-core approach, while the CPU Checking Units guarantee enough clues for the System Control Unit to determine which of the two CPUs is faulty in case of a mismatch, thus increasing the diagnostic capability of the system, keeping a very low beta factor thanks to the diversity of the diagnostic logic, allowing higher availability and a better fault-degradation path with respect to state-of-the-art dual core architectures.

Multi-IC

At system level, the combined use of fRIPs and fRNET allows the construction of hierchical robust systems: each MCU or sensor is made more robust using fRIPs while safety-relevant information is exchanged through an off-chip implementation of fRNET.

Usage
Link
norm IEC61508
Glossary