Author :
Inoue, H. ; Li, Yanjing ; Mitra, Subhasish
Abstract :
Virtualization-assisted concurrent, autonomous self-test, or VAST, enables a multi-/many-core system to test itself, concurrently during normal operation, without any user-visible downtime. Such on-line self-test is required for large-scale robust systems with built-in support for circuit failure prediction, failure detection, diagnosis, and self-healing. The main idea behind VAST is hardware and software co-design of on-line self-test features in a multi-/many-core system through integration of: 1. multi-/many-core architecture, 2. virtualization software, and, 3. special self-test techniques such as BIST (built-in self-test) or CASP (concurrent autonomous chip self-test using stored patterns). As a result, optimized trade-offs in system design complexity, system performance and power impact, and test thoroughness are possible. Experimental results from an actual multi-core system demonstrate that: 1. VAST is practical and effective; and, 2. Special VAST-supported self-test policies enable extremely thorough on-line self-test with very small performance impact.
Keywords :
built-in self test; circuit testing; concurrent engineering; logic testing; VAST; built-in self-test; circuit failure prediction; failure detection; large-scale robust systems; online self-test; self-healing; virtualization software; virtualization-assisted concurrent autonomous self-test; Automatic testing; Built-in self-test; Circuit testing; Computer architecture; Design optimization; Hardware; Large-scale systems; Robustness; System performance; System testing;
