Availability analysis for satellite data processing systems based on SRAM FPGAs

This paper presents a novel methodology that allows a systematic availability analysis of satellite payload data processing systems implemented on static random-access memory-based field-programmable gate arrays. The methodology allows 1) comparison of different fault detection, isolation, and recovery schemes and 2) prediction of the expected system availability in a particular radiation environment. Furthermore, it advances the state of the art by analyzing embedded block RAMs and employing a novel fault injection algorithm that enables more complex stochastic models. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by a case study representing a high-availability payload data processing application. Since block RAMs are also taken into account, the availability prediction precision is greatly increased. It is shown that the reliability prediction for two border cases in which the block RAMs are either ignored or assumed to be fully susceptible can differ as much as 75%.With the proposed block RAM profiling tool, it is possible to determine a realistic reliability figure that is eventually required for the accurate estimation of the system availability.