Self-repairing embryonic memory arrays

Space applications endorse the quest for dependable computing as a vital requirement instead of an expendable quality indicator. A novel direction in designing digital systems with superior dependability is based on bio-inspiration. As a key representative, the Embryonics project implements bio-inspired robustness, the backbone of its fault tolerance being a two level hierachical self-repair. However, the outer space radiation-hard environment is especially harsh to electronic devices, causing a variety of errors (soft fails). The memory structures employed by Embryonics cannot be protected by its self-repairing mechanism. Therefore we investigate the causes and influences of soft fails over the current Embryonics framework and propose a solution for the identified vulnerability based on error correcting codes. We also provide a reliability comparison between memory structures with and without error correcting codes.