A Case Study in Applying Functional Safety to an A* Accelerator Design

Random faults are a natural phenomenon in electronic devices. Those faults usually affect the proper functionality of an electronic circuit, which introduces unreasonable risks in safety-critical circuits. Functional Safety aims to eliminate any unreasonable risk due to hazards by malfunctioning electronic systems in automotive industry. Path planning is one of the safety-critical systems in autonomous cars. Inserting safety mechanisms into A* path planning circuit results in downgrading the overall performance and increasing area and power consumption. Creating an ASIL-D electronic circuit makes this downgrade in performance acceptable; however, it is crucial to ensure that the design remains suitable for real-time applications. This paper investigates the application of safety mechanisms on a safety-critical design while striving to maintain its compatibility for real-time usage.