New Conference Paper Published

We are excited to announce the publication of our latest conference paper, titled “Cross-domain Analog Fault Injection for Designing Robust Smart Systems”, in the proceedings of the 2024 Forum on Specification & Design Languages (FDL).

Abstract

Under the pressure of the Industry 4.0 revolution, and now with the European Chips Act, smart systems are becoming omnipresent in all industrial sectors, e.g., automotive and aerospace. Such systems contain digital and analog components belonging to several physical domains, e.g., electrical and mechanical. To ensure robustness, the whole system must be validated as early as possible in the development cycle, by taking into account all such domains, as recommended by the ISO 26262 standard in the case, e.g., of automotive systems. Unfortunately, validation techniques, including fault injection and simulation, are not as advanced on the analog side as the digital counterpart: i) they are not fully standardized, ii) they are highly domain-dependent, and iii) they are performed separately from the digital flow. This article proposes to improve the design of smart systems by generating faulty scenarios through analog fault injection across several physical domains. By exploiting these faulty scenarios, it is possible to improve the robustness of the analog part and, at the same time, to improve the quality of the digital part that controls the system functionality. A multi-domain case study containing a microcontroller and a three-axis accelerometer is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach in many industrial contexts.

Details

• Title: Cross-domain Analog Fault Injection for Designing Robust Smart Systems
• Authors: Francesco Tosoni, Nicola Dall’Ora, Enrico Fraccaroli, Sara Vinco, Franco Fummi
• Conference: Forum on Specification & Design Languages (FDL)
• Year: 2024
• Pages: 1-8
• Keywords: Design automation, Microcontrollers, ISO Standards, Europe, Control systems, Robustness, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Fault simulation, Design automation, Design robustness, Multi-domain simulation

Links

• DOI: 10.1109/FDL63219.2024.10673865
• Open Access Version: Read Here

This paper highlights a novel approach to designing robust smart systems by introducing cross-domain analog fault injection. By generating faulty scenarios across multiple physical domains, such as electrical and mechanical, the study demonstrates how system robustness can be improved early in the development cycle. A multi-domain case study featuring a microcontroller and a three-axis accelerometer validates the effectiveness of this methodology, showcasing its applicability in industrial contexts.

We extend our gratitude to all collaborators and contributors for their efforts. For further details, please explore the links provided above.