Comparison of parallel implementation strategies in GPU-accelerated System-on-Chip under proton irradiation

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system-on-chip (SoC) are becoming widespread in embedded systems. Many of them include a multicore central processing unit (CPU) and a high-end graphics processing unit (GPU). They combine high computational performance with low power consumption and flexible multilevel parallelism. This kind of device is also being considered for radiation environments where large amounts of data must be processed or compute-intensive applications must be executed. In this article, we compare three different strategies to perform matrix multiplication in the GPU of a Tegra TK1 SoC. Our aim is to analyze how the different use of the resources of the GPU influences not only the computational performance of the algorithm, but also its radiation sensitivity. Radiation experiments with protons were performed to compare the behavior of the three strategies. Experimental results show that most of the errors force a reboot of the platform. The number of errors is directly related with how the algorithms use the internal memories of the GPU and increases with the matrix size. It is also related with the number of transactions with the global memory, which in our experiments is not affected by the radiation. Results show that the smallest cross section is obtained with the fastest algorithm, even if it uses the cores of the GPU more intensively.This work was supported in part by the Valencian Regional Government under Grant PROMETEO/2019/109, in part by Jaume I University under Project UJIB2019-36, and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under Project PID2019-106455GB-C21 and Project PID2020-113656RB-C21.Publicad

Evaluating the soft error sensitivity of a GPU-based SoC for matrix multiplication

Proceeding of: 31th European Symposium on Reliability of Electron Devices, Failure Physics and Analysis (ESREF 2020), Athens, Greece, 4th to 8 October 2020 (Virtual conference)System-on-Chip (SoC) devices can be composed of low-power multicore processors combined with a small graphics accelerator (or GPU) which offers a trade-off between computational capacity and low-power consumption. In this work we use the LLFI-GPU fault injection tool on one of these devices to compare the sensitivity to soft errors of two different CUDA versions of matrix multiplication benchmark. Specifically, we perform fault injection campaigns on a Jetson TK1 development kit, a board equipped with a SoC including an NVIDIA 'Kepler” Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). We evaluate the effect of modifying the size of the problem and also the thread-block size on the behaviour of the algorithms. Our results show that the block version of the matrix multiplication benchmark that leverages the shared memory of the GPU is not only faster than the element-wise version, but it is also much more resilient to soft errors. We also use the cuda-gdb debugger to analyze the main causes of the crashes in the code due to soft errors. Our experiments show that most of the errors are due to accesses to invalid positions of the different memories of the GPU, which causes that the block version suffers a higher percentage of this kind of errors.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government through TIN2017-82972-R and ESP2015-68245-C4-1-P, and by the Valencian Regional Government through PROMETEO/2019/109

Radiation Testing of a Multiprocessor Macrosynchronized Lockstep Architecture With FreeRTOS

Nowadays, high-performance microprocessors are demanded in many fields, including those with high-reliability requirements. Commercial microprocessors present a good tradeoff between cost, size, and performance, albeit they must be adapted to satisfy the reliability requirements when they are used in harsh environments. This work presents a high-end multiprocessor hardened with macrosynchronized lockstep and additional protections. A commercial dual-core Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) cortex A9 has been used as a case study and a complete hardened system has been developed. Evaluation of the proposed hardened system has been accomplished with exhaustive fault injection campaigns and proton irradiation. The hardening approach has been accomplished for both baremetal applications and operating system (OS)-based. The hardened system has demonstrated high reliability in all performed experiments with error coverage up to 99.3% in the irradiation experiments. Experimental irradiation results demonstrate a cross-sectional reduction of two orders of magnitude.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under Project PID2019-106455GB-C21 and in part by the Community of Madrid under Project 49.520608.9.18Publicad

Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitors: design, synthesis, in vitro profiling and in vivo evaluation in murine models of pain

Trabajo presentado en el ASPET Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2022, celebrado en Philadelphia, PA (Estados Unidos), del 2 al 5 de abril de 2022This research by the Grant PID2020-118127RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe” to S.V. Financial support from Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, Universitat de Barcelona (F2I grant), to S.V., and from the Xunta de Galicia (ED431G 2019/02 and ED431C 2018/21) to M.I.L. are acknowledged. Partial support was provided by NIH-NIEHS River Award R35 ES03443, NIH-NIEHS Superfund Program P42 ES004699, NINDS R01 DK107767, and NIDDK R01 DK103616 to B.D.H. S.C. acknowledges a PhD fellowship from the Universitat de Barcelona (APIF grant)

Synthesis, in Vitro Profiling, and in Vivo Evaluation of Benzohomoadamantane-Based Ureas for Visceral Pain: A New Indication for Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitors

The soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) has been suggested as a pharmacological target for the treatment of several diseases, including pain-related disorders. Herein, we report further medicinal chemistry around new benzohomoadamantane-based sEH inhibitors (sEHI) in order to improve the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics properties of a previous hit. After an extensive in vitro screening cascade, molecular modeling, and in vivo pharmacokinetics studies, two candidates were evaluated in vivo in a murine model of capsaicin-induced allodynia. The two compounds showed an anti-allodynic effect in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the most potent compound presented robust analgesic efficacy in the cyclophosphamide-induced murine model of cystitis, a well-established model of visceral pain. Overall, these results suggest painful bladder syndrome as a new possible indication for sEHI, opening a new range of applications for them in the visceral pain field

In vivo evaluation of soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitors in murine models of allodynia, chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain and visceral pain

Trabajo presentado en el IX EFMC International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry, celebrado en Zagreb (Croacia), del 3 al 7 de septiembre de 2023Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitors (sEHI) are a new class of non-opioid analgesics, with a representative compound, EC5026, currently in clinical trials for the management of neuropathic pain [1]. Our group has recently designed, synthesized and pharmacologically evaluated novel series of potent benzohomoadamantane-based sEHI [2]. Herein, we report further medicinal chemistry around the abovementioned polycyclic scaffold to improve the potency and, particularly, the DMPK properties of previous hits. After an extensive in vitro screening cascade, molecular modeling, and in vivo pharmacokinetics studies, three candidates were selected for in vivo studies. Two compounds evaluated in a murine model of capsaicin-induced allodynia displayed potent anti-allodynic effect in a dose-dependent manner. Next, the most potent compound was evaluated in the cyclophosphamide-induced murine model of cystitis, a well-established model of visceral pain, presenting robust analgesic efficacy [3]. Finally, considering that chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP), a severe side effect of several anticancer agents, is a largely unmet medical need [4], our third candidate was evaluated in a murine model of paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain. CINP was performed by a daily injection of paclitaxel via i.p. (2 mg/kg), for 5 consecutive days. Mice developed neuropathic mechanical allodynia, which peaked on day 10 after the first paclitaxel administration ¿time when the acute effects of sEHI were tested. Subcutaneous administration of this candidate (2.5-5 mg/kg) completely reversed in a dose dependent manner the sensory hypersensitivity. Additionally, administration of the sEHI (5 mg/kg, s.c.) 30 min before each paclitaxel injection completely prevented the development of neuropathic allodynia. Collectively, these results suggest interstitial cystitis/pain bladder syndrome and CINP as possible new indications for sEHI. Acknowledgements: This work was funded by the Grant PID2020-118127RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ¿ERDF A way of making Europe¿ to S.V