Laser and Radiation Testing of Compiler-based Protection for Multi-Bit Upsets

Software-Implemented Hardware Fault Tolerance (SIHFT) is advantageous in critical systems where hardware solutions cannot be used due to competing non-functional constraints. Recent works have focused on developing compiler-based protection mechanisms, relying on debuggers and other software mechanisms to introduce single event upsets. In this work, we test a compiler-based technique using physical radiation testing methods, including laser fault injection and alpha-particle exposure. During this evaluation, we identified previously unknown issues that required further development, including a novel memory allocation strategy for improved reliability. Furthermore, we integrated this fault detection solution with a hard real-time recovery mechanism that exploits mixed-criticality scheduling to demonstrate the overall system recovery capabilities. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in detecting faults even under real-world radiation conditions, representing an important step toward the maturity of SIHFT techniques.