Decimal Hamming: A Software-Implemented Technique to Cope with Soft Errors

A low-overhead technique for correction of induced errors affecting algorithms and their data based on the concepts behind Hamming code is presented and evaluated. We go beyond Hamming code by computing the check digits as decimal sums, and using a checker algorithm to perform single error detection and correction and double error detection. This generalization allows for the protection of complex data structures, providing lower performance overhead than classic approaches based on algorithm redundancy, and has been successfully applied to different benchmarking algorithms and their associated data. Comparison of the resulting overheads with those imposed by the classic duplication with comparison shows that the proposed technique, named Decimal Hamming, imposes lower execution time and program memory overheads, while providing enhanced error correction capabilities.