A software-based concurrent error detection technique for power PC processor-based embedded systems

This paper presents a behavior-based error detection technique called control flow checking using branch trace exceptions for powerPC processors family (CFCBTE). This technique is based on the branch trace exception feature available in the powerPC processors family for debugging purposes. This technique traces the target addresses of program branches at run-time and compares them with reference target addresses to detect possible violations caused by transient faults. The reference target addresses are derived by a preprocessor from the source program. The proposed technique is experimentally evaluated on a 32-bit powerPC microcontroller using software implemented fault injection (SWIFI). The results show that this technique detects about 91% of the injected control flow errors. The memory overhead is 39.16% on average, and the performance overhead varies between 110% and 304% depending on the workload used. This technique does not modify the program source code.