Evaluating Coverage of Error Detection Logic for Soft Errors using Formal Methods

In this paper we describe a methodology to measure exactly the quality of fault-tolerant designs by combining fault-injection in high level design (HLD) descriptions with a formal verification approach. We utilize BDD based symbolic simulation to determine the coverage of online error-detection and - correction logic. We describe an easily portable approach, which can be applied to a wide variety of multi-GHz industrial designs.