Rapid Radiation Failure Analysis of Digital Circuits Using a Computing Farm

The failure of digital circuits due to radiation using simulation was not addressed in the past due to several obstacles. First, radiation failure models, radiation faults dictionaries and the specification of susceptibility to radiation are not availablein the current hardware description languages (HDL) like IEEE 1076 (VHDL) or IEEE 1364 (Verilog). Second, the simulation that will gather useful statistics from radiation models is in general lengthy and unaffordable for less then scholastic examples usingcurrent simulators. We propose to study the use of Advanced Library Format (IEEE P1603-ALF) in addition to a standard HDL to describe radiation faults and susceptibility to radiation. In addition we plan to investigate the use of simulation farms to reducethe time and difficulty of managing the simulation of the effects of radiation on military complexity digital circuits. Precise assessment of radiation effects on digital circuits becomes feasible before the physical implementation. The selection of thebest candidate architecture for a new digital system that will resist to a specified level of radiation with a given probability is enabled at a reduced cost. Once designed, the simulation system can be upgraded to take into account other faults like thecross talk (electromagnetic radiation produced by the circuit itself). In addition to the military sector benefits, the commercial sector will be benefit through analysis of ionization soft error susceptibility.