OTERA: Online test strategies for reliable reconfigurable architectures — Invited paper for the AHS-2012 special session “Dependability by reconfigurable hardware”

FPGA-based reconfigurable systems allow the online adaptation to dynamically changing runtime requirements. However, the reliability of FPGAs, which are manufactured in latest technologies, is threatened not only by soft errors, but also by aging effects and latent defects. To ensure reliable reconfiguration, it is mandatory to guarantee the correct operation of the underlying reconfigurable fabric. This can be achieved by periodic or on-demand online testing. The OTERA project develops and evaluates components and strategies for reconfigurable systems that feature reliable reconfiguration. The research focus ranges from structural online tests for the FPGA infrastructure and functional online tests for the configured functionality up to the resource management and test scheduling. This paper gives an overview of the project tasks and presents first results.