Eliminating Single Points of Failure in Software-Based Redundancy

Ulbrich P, Hoffmann M, Kapitza R, Lohmann D, Schröder-Preikschat W, Schmid R (2012)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Original article

Publication year: 2012

Publisher: IEEE Computer Society

Edited Volumes: Proceedings - 9th European Dependable Computing Conference, EDCC 2012

City/Town: Los Alamitos

Pages Range: 49-60

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of the 9th European Dependable Computing Conference

Event location: Sibiu, Romania RO

ISBN: 978-1-4673-0938-7

URI: https://www4.cs.fau.de/Publications/2012/ulbrich_12_edcc.pdf

DOI: 10.1109/EDCC.2012.21

Abstract

In the domain of safety-critical embedded and cyber-physical systems, software-based redundancy is generally understood as an effective and cheap approach to improve reliability. Especially redundant execution in terms of triple modular redundancy is a well-known solution. However, triple modular redundancy (TMR) leaves unprotected single points of failure (SPOFs), such as the voter, which have to be carefully considered in all safety considerations. We present Combined Redundancy (CoRed), a holistic approach that hardens safety-critical parts of a system against soft-errors, while effectively eliminating the vulnerability caused by SPOFs. CoRed leverages redundant execution in combination with encoded processing to tackle the unprotected voting and data distribution. Its implementation does not require specific knowledge about the application and can be easily integrated into existing projects. We evaluated CoRed in a realistic setting using a quad rotor helicopter and provide experimental evidence for soft-error resistance and comparable low resource demand. In our experimental comparison plain TMR left more than seven percent of failures undetected, whereas CoRed was able to eliminate all silent data corruptions while inducing an overhead of just seven percent.

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Ulbrich Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme) Martin Hoffmann Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme) Rüdiger Kapitza Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme) Daniel Lohmann Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme) Wolfgang Schröder-Preikschat Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme)

Related research project(s)

Adaptive Responsive Embedded Systems (ESI 2) (ARES) ESI-Anwendungszentrum für die digitale Automatisierung, den digitalen Sport und die Automobilsensorik der Zukunft Jan. 1, 2010 - Dec. 31, 2018

Involved external institutions

Siemens AG DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Ulbrich, P., Hoffmann, M., Kapitza, R., Lohmann, D., Schröder-Preikschat, W., & Schmid, R. (2012). Eliminating Single Points of Failure in Software-Based Redundancy. In Correia, Miguel (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th European Dependable Computing Conference (pp. 49-60). Sibiu, Romania, RO: Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society.

MLA:

Ulbrich, Peter, et al. "Eliminating Single Points of Failure in Software-Based Redundancy." Proceedings of the 9th European Dependable Computing Conference (EDCC '12), Sibiu, Romania Ed. Correia, Miguel, Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society, 2012. 49-60.

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