The development of Integrated Circuits for the Automotive sector imposes on complex challenges. ISO26262 Functional Safety requirements entail extensive Fault Injection campaigns and complex analysis for the evaluation of deployed Software Tools. This paper proposes a methodology to improve Fault Analysis Tools Confidence Level (TCL) by detecting errors in the classification of faults. By combining the strengths of Automatic Test Pattern Generators (ATPG), Formal Methods and Fault Injection Simulators we are able to automatically generate a Test Environment that enables the validation of the tools and provides supplementary information about the design behavior. Our results showed fault detection rates above 99% including information to improve ISO26262 metrics calculation.

The current demands for autonomous driving generated momentum for an increase in research in the different technologies required for these applications. Nonetheless, the limited access to representative designs and industrial methodologies poses a challenge to the research community. Considering this scenario, there is a high demand for an open-source solution that could support development of research targeting automotive applications. This paper presents the current status of AutoSoC, an automotive SoC benchmark suite that includes hardware and software elements and is entirely open-source. The objective is to provide researchers with an industrial-grade automotive SoC that includes all essential components, is fully customizable, and enables analysis of functional safety solutions and automotive SoC configurations. This paper describes the available configurations of the benchmark including an initial assessment for ASIL B to D configurations.

GPUs have seen an increased adoption in autonomous systems. This article assesses the fault coverage that can be attained through software self-test strategies for in-field test of GPUs.—Nicola Nicolici, McMaster University

The development of Integrated Circuits for the Automotive sector imposes on major challenges. ISO26262 compliance, as part of this process, entails complex analysis for the evaluation of potential random hardware faults. This paper proposes a systematic approach to identify faults that do not disrupt safety-critical functionalities and consequently can be considered Safe. By deploying code coverage and Formal verification techniques, our methodology enables the classification of faults that are unclassified by other technologies, improving ISO26262 compliance. Our results, in combination with Fault Simulation, achieved a Diagnostic Coverage of 93% in a CAN Controller. These figures allow an initial assessment for an ASIL B configuration of the IP.

ISO 26262 requires classifying random hardware faults based on their effects (safe, detected, or undetected) within integrated circuits used in automobiles. In general, this classification is addressed using expert judgment and a combination of tools. However, the growth of integrated circuit complexity creates a huge fault space; hence, this form of fault classification is error prone and time consuming. Therefore, an automated and systematic approach is needed to target hardware fault classification in automotive systems on chips (SoCs), considering the application software. This work focuses on identifying safe faults: the proposed approach utilizes coverage analysis to identify candidate safe faults considering all the constraints coming from the application. Then, the behavior of the application software is modeled so that we can resort to a formal analysis tool. The proposed technique is evaluated on the AutoSoC benchmark running a cruise control application. Resorting to our approach, we could classify 20%, 11%, and 13% of all faults in the central processing unit (CPU), universal asynchronous receiver–transmitter (UART), and controller area network (CAN) as safe faults, respectively. We also show that this classification can increase the diagnostic coverage of software test libraries targeting the CPU and CAN modules by 4% to 6%, increasing the achieved testable fault coverage.

Tolerance to random hardware failures, required by ISO26262, entails accurate design behavior analysis, complex Verification Environments and expensive Fault Injection campaigns. This paper proposes a methodology combining the strengths of Automatic Test Pattern Generators (ATPG), Formal Methods and Fault Injection Simulation to decrease the efforts of Functional Safety Verification. Our methodology results in a fast-deployed Fault Injection environment achieving Fault detection rates higher than 99% on the tested designs. In addition, ISO26262 Tool Confidence level is improved by a fault analysis report that allows verification of malfunctions in the outputs of the tools.