Self-checking and recovering microprocessor G100FTS for fault-tolerant systems

The architecture and implementation of an application-specific processor, the G100FTS, designed for fault-tolerant systems are described. The G100FTS integrates the core processor and the support module for fault-tolerant operation. The core processor is the 32-b microprocessor Gmicro/100 based on the TRON specifications. The support module provides a mechanism of error detection, a rollback operation that recovers a processor from a transient fault, diagnosis of faulty processors, and reconfiguration of a single processor system to make it operate continuously. The G100FTS drastically reduces the component count of a system and provides high system reliability. The G100FTS performs all the fault-tolerant operations in hardware and requires no dedicated programs for fault tolerance. The chip contains 805K transistors within a chip size of 13 mm × 14 mm. A 1.0-μm, double-metal CMOS technology was used