Improving Reliability of Embedded RISC-V SoC for Low-cost Space Applications

Commercial-grade electronic components are finding their way into spacecrafts intended for low-orbit applications due to their low cost and ease of availability. However, being susceptible to a variety of disturbances like radiation upsets, they are not as reliable as radiation-hardened space-grade components. Reliability of these components can be improved using design techniques for fault detection that allows for subsequent correction through hardware or software. In this paper, a fault monitoring mechanism is introduced to improve the reliability of an Embedded RISC-V System-on-Chip (SoC) intended for low-cost space applications. This mechanism alerts the system of potential faults induced by upsets in space environment and allows for recovery. Implementation of the mechanism is done in an ASIC with 180nm commercial foundry libraries, but the design can also be ported to SRAM-based FPGAs.