Digital Commons Network^™

Terrestrial Cosmic Ray Induced Soft Errors And Large-Scale Fpga Systems In The Cloud, Andrew M. Keller, Michael J. Wirthlin

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Radiation from outer space can cause soft errors in microelectronic devices deployed at terrestrial altitudes on Earth. Cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere create a complex cascade of radioactive particles. The most likely form of cosmic radiation to cause soft errors in microelectronics at terrestrial levels are neutrons. SRAM-based FPGAs are susceptible to terrestrial cosmic ray induced soft errors. These soft errors occur infrequently for a single device deployed at terrestrial altitudes. When many FPGAs are deployed in a large-scale system, the impact of these soft errors on reliability can be significant. This study examines terrestrial cosmic ray induced soft …