Using roving STARs for on-line testing and diagnosis of FPGAs in fault-tolerant applications

In this paper we present a novel integrated approach to on-line FPGA testing, diagnosis, and fault-tolerance, to be used in high-reliability and high-availability hardware. The test process takes place in self-testing areas (STARs) of the FPGA, without disturbing the normal system operation. The entire chip is eventually tested by having (STARs) gradually rove across the FPGA. Our approach guarantees complete testing of programmable logic blocks and interconnect, and provides maximum diagnostic resolution. A new fault-tolerant (FT) technique allows using partially defective FPGA resources for normal operation, providing longer mission life-span in the presence of faults. We also introduce the basic concepts of a new dynamic FT method, spare resources needed to bypass a fault are always in the neighborhood of the located fault, thus simplifying fault-bypassing