Reconfigurable Hardware Technology: an Emerging Paradigm for Combined Software-Hardware Fault-tolerance Implementation

Abstract

As is well known complex safety digital systems currently being designed and developed are often difficult multidisciplinary undertakings. In order to achieve their operation even under extreme conditions is important to strengthen it with fault-tolerant behaviors. One of the safest solutions is to provide these digital systems both with software and hardware redundancy. This paper is dedicated to emphasize the benefits and advantages of reconfigurable hardware technology application in combined software-hardware redundancy strategies implementation. This technology it is considered as one of the most challenging design paradigms in modern digital systems development. Arguments to support it in fault-tolerant systems development are widely discussed, as well to exploit its fine-grained parallel and distributed computing behaviors with huge re-routing abilities are suggested. An intuitive example of how to design and implement combined software-hardware redundancy and achieve high level of fault-tolerance is presented in detail. Beside the research related to the fault-tolerant digital systems development recommendations and conclusions are formulated regarding the future of the reconfigurable hardware technology paradigm in high reliability systems implementation.