Efficient Task Allocation to FPGAs in the Safety Critical Domain

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are highly configurable programmable logic devices. They offer many benefits over traditional micro-processors such as the ability to efficiently run tasks in parallel and also highly predictable timing performance. They are becoming increasingly popular for use in the safety critical domain where predictability is essential. However, concerns about their dependability, principally their reliability and difficulties in assessing the impact of an internal failure means that current designs are inefficient and conservative. This paper discusses these issues in depth. It also presents an FPGA task allocation method using simulated annealing to balance efficiency and reliability requirements. This can be used to improve designs of safety critical FPGA based systems.