Using Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection on a System-on-Chip under Gamma Radiation

The emergence of new nanoscale technologies has imposed significant challenges to designing reliable electronic systems in radiation environments. A few types of radiation like Total Ionizing Dose (TID) effects often cause permanent damages on such nanoscale electronic devices, and current state-of-the-art technologies to tackle TID make use of expensive radiation-hardened devices. This paper focuses on a novel and different approach: using machine learning algorithms on consumer electronic level Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to tackle TID effects and monitor them to replace before they stop working. This condition has a research challenge to anticipate when the board results in a total failure due to TID effects. We observed internal measurements of the FPGA boards under gamma radiation and used three different anomaly detection machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect anomalies in the sensor measurements in a gamma-radiated environment. The statistical results show a highly significant relationship between the gamma radiation exposure levels and the board measurements. Moreover, our anomaly detection results have shown that a One-Class Support Vector Machine with Radial Basis Function Kernel has an average Recall score of 0.95. Also, all anomalies can be detected before the boards stop working

Study report recommendations for the next generation Range Safety System (RSS) Integrated Receiver/Decoder (IRD)

The Integrated Receiver/Decoder (IRD) currently used on the Space Shuttle was designed in the 1980 and prior time frame. Over the past 12 years, several parts have become obsolete or difficult to obtain. As directed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, a primary objective is to investigate updating the IRD design using the latest technology subsystems. To take advantage of experience with the current designs, an analysis of failures and a review of discrepancy reports, material review board actions, scrap, etc. are given. A recommended new design designated as the Advanced Receiver/Decoder (ARD) is presented. This design uses the latest technology components to simplify circuits, improve performance, reduce size and cost, and improve reliability. A self-test command is recommended that can improve and simplify operational procedures. Here, the new design is contrasted with the old. Possible simplification of the total Range Safety System is discussed, as is a single-step crypto technique that can improve and simplify operational procedures

Investigating soft failures induced by system-level ESD

Hardware and application-level manifestations of ESD soft failures were characterized for three single-board computers. ESD events were generated following the system-level ESD standard (IEC 61000-4-2), matching real-world testing and events. Soft failures resulting from ESD were seen on all products tested. Failures associated with the peripheral ICs occur independently of the application being run; the application-dependent failures are attributed to noise at the CPU

Developing Techniques For Reducing Emc Effects On Microcontroller Based Medical Equipment

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2007Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2007Biyomedikal EMC etkileriBiomedical EMC effectsYüksek LisansM.Sc

Multi-core devices for safety-critical systems: a survey

Multi-core devices are envisioned to support the development of next-generation safety-critical systems, enabling the on-chip integration of functions of different criticality. This integration provides multiple system-level potential benefits such as cost, size, power, and weight reduction. However, safety certification becomes a challenge and several fundamental safety technical requirements must be addressed, such as temporal and spatial independence, reliability, and diagnostic coverage. This survey provides a categorization and overview at different device abstraction levels (nanoscale, component, and device) of selected key research contributions that support the compliance with these fundamental safety requirements.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grant TIN2015-65316-P, Basque Government under grant KK-2019-00035 and the HiPEAC Network of Excellence. The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness has also partially supported Jaume Abella under Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2013-14717).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Fault tolerant design implementation on radiation hardened by design SRAM-Based FPGAs

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2013.This electronic version was submitted and approved by the author's academic department as part of an electronic thesis pilot project. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections."June 2013." Cataloged from department-submitted PDF version of thesisIncludes bibliographical references (p. 197-204).SRAM-based FPGAs are highly attractive for space applications due to their in-flight reconfigurability, decreased development time and cost, and increased design and testing flexibility. The Xilinx Virtex-5QV is the first commercially available Radiation Hardened By Design (RHBD) SRAM-based FPGA; however, not all of its internal components are hardened against radiation-induced errors. This thesis examines and quantifies the additional considerations and techniques designers should employ with a RHBD SRAM-based FPGA in a space-based processing system to achieve high operational reliability. Additionally, this work presents the application of some of these techniques to the embedded avionics design of the REXIS imaging payload on the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission.by Frank Hall Schmidt, Jr.S.M

System data communication structures for active-control transport aircraft, volume 2

The application of communication structures to advanced transport aircraft are addressed. First, a set of avionic functional requirements is established, and a baseline set of avionics equipment is defined that will meet the requirements. Three alternative configurations for this equipment are then identified that represent the evolution toward more dispersed systems. Candidate communication structures are proposed for each system configuration, and these are compared using trade off analyses; these analyses emphasize reliability but also address complexity. Multiplex buses are recognized as the likely near term choice with mesh networks being desirable for advanced, highly dispersed systems

Plataforma para testes e qualificação de dispositivos reconfiguráveis e sistemas em chip, submetidos aos efeitos combinados da interferência eletromagnética e da radiação ionizante

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica, Florianópolis, 2015.Este trabalho investiga os efeitos combinados da radiação e interferência eletromagnética em sistemas embarcados críticos baseados em dispositivos reconfiguráveis (FPGAs). Os efeitos investigados podem ser resultantes de interferência eletromagnética, conduzida ou radiada, ou através de radiação ionizante, por acúmulo de dose total (Total Ionizing Dose, ou TID) ou por efeitos de evento único, denominados de Single Event Effects (SEE). Dispositivos do tipo FPGA têm sido cada vez mais utilizados em sistemas críticos, devido a sua versatilidade, desempenho e robustez. O presente estudo contribui para a caracterização e qualificação de dispositivos FPGAs quando em funcionamento em ambientes ruidosos. O cenário descrito motivou a proposta deste trabalho, que contempla três objetivos principais: (1) O projeto, desenvolvimento e validação de uma plataforma para ensaios combinados de radiação e de interferência eletromagnética (conduzida e radiada) usando como referência o conjunto de normas IEC 62.132. (2) Desenvolver uma metodologia para qualificar sistemas em chip (SoCs) implementados em FPGA levando-se em conta os efeitos combinados da radiação (TID e SEE) e da interferência eletromagnética (EMI radiada e conduzida); (3) Demonstrar a utilização integrada da metodologia e plataforma para qualificação destes dispositivos e os sistemas em chip utilizados no que diz respeito à dose de radiação, tempo de atraso entre entrada e saída, tensão mínima de funcionamento, consumo de corrente dinâmico, nível de campo eletromagnético máximo suportado antes da falha, a faixa de frequências em que os dispositivos apresentaram falhas com outros valores de campo e a sensibilidade à Single Event Upsets (SEU) tendo seus efeitos combinados com TID e EMI. Cabe salientar que estas plataformas de testes deste nível e para este propósito não foram encontradas na literatura nem no Brasil nem no exterior, nos motivando ainda mais a pesquisa e o desenvolvimento pela sua originalidade e grande utilidade para projetos que envolvem sistemas em chip utilizando FPGAs quando submetidos à radiação e à EMI. Principalmente quando aplicado a sistemas embarcados para aplicações críticas. A plataforma desenvolvida é baseada em três placas específicas e complementares em duas versões. A primeira é dedicada para ensaios com radiação ionizante, e pode ser utilizada em uma câmara aceleradora de partículas ou em uma Gamma Cell (para exposição a raios gama) ou ainda em equipamentos de raios X. A segunda placa é dedicada para o teste de imunidade à EMI radiada utilizando uma Giga-hertz Transverse Electromagnetic Cell (GTEM Cell) de acordo com a norma IEC 62.132-2 e a terceira é uma placa de injeção de EMI conduzido pelas linhas de alimentação do circuito, e usou como referência a norma IEC 61.000-4-29. Com a plataforma e metodologia apresentadas neste trabalho foi possível comprovar que quanto maior a dose de radiação recebida, mais susceptível o dispositivo fica quando exposto à EMI, aumentando em pelo menos 30% a quantidade de falhas, em até 230% o tempo de atraso entre entrada e saída e em até 19% o consumo de corrente dinâmico do dispositivo. Assim como quanto maior a dose de radiação sofrida, maior será a sensibilidade à SEU. Com os limites de operação apresentados para os FPGAs em teste, o projetista pode decidir se o dispositivo está ou não qualificado para o seu uso em determinada aplicação.Abstract : The combined effects of radiation and electromagnetic interference in reconfigurable devices (FPGAs) are explored in this work. The investigated effects can originate from radiated or conducted electromagnetic interference, through ionizing radiation, by accumulation of total dose (Total Ionizing Dose TID) or by Single Event Effects also known as SEE. Since FPGA devices have been increasingly used in critical systems, due to their versatility, performance and robustness, this study contributes to the characterization and qualification of FPGAs devices when operating in noisy environments. The described scenario resulted in a proposal with three main objectives: (1) The design, development and validation of a platform for combined tests for radiation and electromagnetic interference (conducted and radiated) with reference to IEC 62.132 standards. (2) Development of a methodology to qualify systems on chip (SoC) implemented in FPGA taking into account the combined effects of radiation (TID and SEE) and electromagnetic interference (EMI radiated and conduced); (3) Demonstrate the combined use of the methodology and platform for qualifications of these devices and SoC used with respect to radiation dose, time delay between input and output, minimum operating voltage, the dynamic power consumption, electromagnetic field level supported before failure, the frequency range in which the devices had failures with other field values and sensitivity to Single Event Upsets (SEU) with TID and EMI combined effects. It should be emphasized that these test platforms, at this level and for this purpose have not been found in the literature either in Brazil or in other countries, motivating this research and development for its originality and use in projects involving systems on chip on FPGAs when exposed to radiation and EMI. Especially when applied to embedded systems for critical applications. The developed platform is based on three specific and complementary boards in two versions. The first one is dedicated to radiation immunity test according to the IEC 62132-2 standard, and can be used in a particle accelerator chamber (e.g. protons) Gamma Cell (for gamma rays exposure) or in X ray equipment s. The second board is dedicated to radiated noise immunity testing in a Giga- Hertz Transverse Electromagnetic Cell (GTEM Cell) referenced by the IEC 62.132-2 standard. The third one is a board for conducted EMI injection by the circuit supply lines referenced by the IEC 61.000-4-29 standard. With the platform and methodology presented in this work it was possible to prove that the higher radiation dose received, the more susceptible when exposed to EMI the device is, increasing by at least 30 % the number of failures, up to 230 % the time delay between input and output and up to 19 % dynamic current consuming of the device. As well as the higher the radiation dose suffered, the more sensitivity to SEU is. With operating limits presented for FPGAs under test, the designer can decide if the device is qualified or not for use in a particular application

Visible Light Optical Camera Communication for Electroencephalography Applications

Due to the cable-free deployment and flexibility of wireless communications, the data transmission in the applications of home and healthcare has shown a trend of moving wired communications to wireless communications. One typical example is electroencephalography (EEG). Evolution in the radio frequency (RF) technology has made it is possible to transmit the EEG data without data cable bundles. However, presently, the RF-based wireless technology used in EEG suffers from electromagnetic interference and might also have adverse effects on the health of patient and other medical equipment used in hospitals or homes. This puts some limits in RF-based EEG solutions, which is particularly true in RF restricted zones like Intensive Care Units (ICUs). As a recently developed optical wireless communication (OWC) technology, visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for both simultaneous illumination and data communication has shown its advantages of free from electromagnetic interference, potential huge unlicensed bandwidth and enhanced data privacy due to the line transmission of light. The most recent development of VLC is the optical camera communication (OCC), which is an extension of VLC IEEE standard 802.15.7, also referred to as visible light optical camera communication (VL-OCC). Different from the conventional VLC where traditional photodiodes are used to detect and receive the data, VL-OCC uses the imaging camera as the photodetector to receive the data in the form of visible light signals. The data rate requirement of EEG is dependent on the application; hence this thesis investigates a low cost, organic LED (OLED)-driven VL-OCC wireless data transmission system for EEG applications

Hardware and software reliability estimation using simulations

The simulation technique is used to explore the validation of both hardware and software. It was concluded that simulation is a viable means for validating both hardware and software and associating a reliability number with each. This is useful in determining the overall probability of system failure of an embedded processor unit, and improving both the code and the hardware where necessary to meet reliability requirements. The methodologies were proved using some simple programs, and simple hardware models