A Comparison of Reliability and Resource Utilization of Radiation Fault Tolerance Mechanisms in Spaceborne Electronic Systems
The advent of the New Space Era has significantly accelerated the development of space equipment systems using commercial off-the-shelf components. Field Programmable Gate Arrays are increasingly favored for their ability to be easily modified, which substantially reduces both development time and c...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Aerospace |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/2/152 |
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| Summary: | The advent of the New Space Era has significantly accelerated the development of space equipment systems using commercial off-the-shelf components. Field Programmable Gate Arrays are increasingly favored for their ability to be easily modified, which substantially reduces both development time and costs. However, their high susceptibility to space radiation poses a considerable risk of mission failure, potentially compromising system reliability in harsh space environments. To mitigate this vulnerability, the implementation of fault-tolerant mechanisms is essential. In this study, we applied eight distinct fault-tolerant mechanisms to various circuits and conducted a comparative analysis between two different categories: hardware redundancy and informational redundancy. This comparison was based on consistent criteria, specifically the Architectural Vulnerability Factor and resource consumption. Utilizing statistical fault injection tests and specialized software, we quantitatively measured structural vulnerability, power consumption, delay, and area. The results revealed that while the Hamming Code achieved the lowest structural vulnerability, it resulted in approximately fourfold increases in resource consumption. Conversely, Triple Modular Redundancy provided high reliability with relatively minimal resource usage. This research elucidates the trade-offs between reliability and resource overhead among different fault-tolerant mechanisms, highlighting the critical importance of selecting appropriate mechanisms based on system requirements to optimize the balance between reliability and resource utilization. Our analysis offers new insights essential for optimizing fault-tolerant mechanisms in space applications. Future work should explore more complex circuit architectures and diverse fault models to refine the selection criteria for fault-tolerant mechanisms tailored to real-world space missions. |
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| ISSN: | 2226-4310 |