Self-repairing in a micro-programmed processor for dependable applications

This paper presents the on-going activities on the design of a Built-In-Self-Repairable micro-processor for high dependable environments. The processor, designed to perform SISD instructions, is able to on-line dynamically reconfigure its internal micro-code in order to "emulate" faulty functional blocks using fault-free blocks of the system only. one of the main novelties of our approach is therefore that no redundant or spare computational blocks are added to the system to allow self-repairing. The approach is completely transparent to the user, and allows a graceful degradation of the device, which is able to complete the requested operations even in presence of multiple faults in its functional units.