Evaluating Xilinx SEU Controller Macro for fault injection

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the SEU Controller Macro, a VHDL component developed by Xilinx for the detection and recovery of single event upsets, as a building block of an FPGA fault-injector. We found that this SEU Controller Macro is extremely effective for injecting faults into the FPGA configuration memory, as single and double bit-flips, with precise location, virtually no intrusiveness, and coarse timing accuracy. We present some clues on how to extend its functionalities to build a fully-fledge FPGA fault injector.