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A Highly Fault Detectable Cache Architecture for Dependable Computing

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Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security (SAFECOMP 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3219))

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Abstract

Information integrity in cache memories is a fundamental requirement for dependable computing. As caches comprise much of a CPU chip area and transistor counts, they are reasonable targets for single and multiple transient faults. This paper presents: 1) a fault detection scheme for tag arrays of cache memories and 2) an architectural cache to improve dependability as well as performance. In this architecture, cache space is divided into sets of different sizes and different tag lengths. The error detection scheme and the cache architecture have been evaluated using a trace driven simulation with soft error injection and SPEC 2000 applications. The results show that error detection improvement varies between 66% and 96% as compared with the already available single parity in microprocessors.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Hamid R. Zarandi & Seyed Ghassem Miremadi

Authors
  1. Hamid R. Zarandi
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  2. Seyed Ghassem Miremadi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Cognitive Science, Workgroup Software Engineering, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany

    Maritta Heisel

  2. Fraunhofer Institute Experimental Software Engineering, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Peter Liggesmeyer

  3. Bundesamt fuer Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, Godesberger Allee 185-189, 53175, Bonn, Germany

    Stefan Wittmann

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Zarandi, H.R., Miremadi, S.G. (2004). A Highly Fault Detectable Cache Architecture for Dependable Computing. In: Heisel, M., Liggesmeyer, P., Wittmann, S. (eds) Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security. SAFECOMP 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3219. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30138-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30138-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-23176-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30138-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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