Fault detection in microprocessor based systems

Faults may be classified as either physical of human-made in origin. Physical faults are random in nature and are generally due to some environmental overstress. Human-made faults include design faults and interaction faults and are due to mistakes in the design, build or use of systems. The author considers physical faults. The system response to a fault follows a cycle of fault-error-failure. A fault is the underlying cause which gives rise to an error (e.g. an incorrect result). Propagation of an error to the system level results in system failure which is any deviation from intended behaviour