AN 866: Mitigating and Debugging Single Event Upsets in Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition

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ID 683869
Date 9/28/2021
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Mitigating Single Event Upset 2. Debugging Single Event Upset Using the Fault Injection Debugger
1. Mitigating Single Event Upset x
1.1. Failure Rates 1.2. Mitigating SEU Effects in Embedded User RAM 1.3. Mitigating SEU Effects in Configuration RAM 1.4. Internal Scrubbing 1.5. SEU Recovery 1.6. Intel® Quartus® Prime Software SEU FIT Reports 1.7. Triple-Module Redundancy 1.8. Evaluating a System's Response to Functional Upsets 1.9. CRAM Error Detection Settings Reference 1.10. Document Revision History
1.2. Mitigating SEU Effects in Embedded User RAM x
1.2.1. Configuring RAM to Enable ECC
1.5. SEU Recovery x
1.5.1. Planning for SEU Recovery 1.5.2. Designating the Sensitivity of the Design Hierarchy 1.5.3. Advanced SEU Detection IP Core
1.5.2. Designating the Sensitivity of the Design Hierarchy x
1.5.2.1. Hierarchy Tagging 1.5.2.2. Using Partitions to Specify Logic Sensitivity ID
1.5.3. Advanced SEU Detection IP Core x
1.5.3.1. On-Chip Sensitivity Processor 1.5.3.2. External Sensitivity Processor
1.6. Intel® Quartus® Prime Software SEU FIT Reports x
1.6.1. SEU FIT Parameters Report 1.6.2. Projected SEU FIT by Component Usage Report 1.6.3. Enabling the Projected SEU FIT by Component Usage Report
1.6.2. Projected SEU FIT by Component Usage Report x
1.6.2.1. Component FIT Rates 1.6.2.2. Raw FIT 1.6.2.3. Utilized FIT 1.6.2.4. Mitigated FIT 1.6.2.5. Architectural Vulnerability Factor
1.6.2.3. Utilized FIT x
1.6.2.3.1. Comparing .smh Critical Bits Report to Utilized Bit Count 1.6.2.3.2. Considerations for Small Designs
2. Debugging Single Event Upset Using the Fault Injection Debugger x
2.1. Single Event Upset Mitigation 2.2. Hardware and Software Requirements 2.3. Using the Fault Injection Debugger and IP Core 2.4. Document Revision History
2.3. Using the Fault Injection Debugger and IP Core x
2.3.1. Instantiating the IP Core 2.3.2. Defining Fault Injection Areas 2.3.3. Using the Fault Injection Debugger 2.3.4. Command-Line Interface
2.3.1. Instantiating the IP Core x
2.3.1.1. About the EMR Unloader IP Core 2.3.1.2. About the Advanced SEU Detection IP Core
2.3.2. Defining Fault Injection Areas x
2.3.2.1. Performing Hierarchy Tagging 2.3.2.2. About SMH Files
2.3.3. Using the Fault Injection Debugger x
2.3.3.1. Configuring Your Device and the Fault Injection Debugger 2.3.3.2. Constraining Regions for Fault Injection 2.3.3.3. Specifying Error Types 2.3.3.4. Injecting Errors 2.3.3.5. Recording Errors 2.3.3.6. Clearing Injected Errors
2.3.4. Command-Line Interface x
2.3.4.1. Targeted Fault Injection Feature 2.3.4.2. Advanced Command-Line Options: ASD Regions and Error Type Weighting
2.3.4.1. Targeted Fault Injection Feature x
2.3.4.1.1. Specifying an Error List From the Command Line 2.3.4.1.2. Specifying an Error List From Prompt Mode 2.3.4.1.3. Determining CRAM Bit Locations
1. Mitigating Single Event Upset
2. Debugging Single Event Upset Using the Fault Injection Debugger

1. Mitigating Single Event Upset

Single event upsets (SEUs) are rare, unintended changes in the state of an FPGA's internal memory elements caused by cosmic radiation effects. The change in state is a soft error and the FPGA incurs no permanent damage. Because of the unintended memory state, the FPGA may operate erroneously until background scrubbing fixes the upset.

The Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software offers several features to detect and correct the effects of SEU, or soft errors, as well as to characterize the effects of SEU on your designs. Additionally, some Intel FPGAs contain dedicated circuitry to help detect and correct errors.

Figure 1. Tools, IP, and Circuitry for Detecting and Correcting SEU

Intel FPGAs have memory in user logic (block memory and registers) and in Configuration Random Access Memory (CRAM). The Intel® Quartus® Prime Programmer loads the CRAM with a .sof file. Then, the CRAM configures all FPGA logic and routing. If an SEU strikes a CRAM bit, the effect can be harmless if the device does not use the CRAM bit. However, the effect can be severe if the SEU affects critical logic or internal signal routing.

Often, a design does not require SEU mitigation because of the low chance of occurrence. However, for highly complex systems, such as systems with multiple high-density components, the error rate may be a significant system design factor. If your system includes multiple FPGAs and requires very high reliability and availability, you should consider the implications of soft errors. Use the techniques in this document to detect and recover from these types of errors.


Section Content
Failure Rates
Mitigating SEU Effects in Embedded User RAM
Mitigating SEU Effects in Configuration RAM
Internal Scrubbing
SEU Recovery
Intel Quartus Prime Software SEU FIT Reports
Triple-Module Redundancy
Evaluating a System's Response to Functional Upsets
CRAM Error Detection Settings Reference
Document Revision History

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