Efficient time redundancy for error correcting inner-product units and convolvers

Abstract

Fault tolerance can be achieved by using time redundancy with modest hardware overhead at the expense of computation time. In this paper the REcomputing with Triplication With Voting (RETWV) technique is applied to complex arithmetic units, such as inner product units and convolvers for concurrent error correction. Hardware complexity, delay, and throughput of the RETWV concurrent error correcting inner product units are analyzed and compared. It is seen that RETWV designs can be faster than the conventional design. That is, in addition to their concurrent error correcting capability, the throughput of RETWV designs is higher than that of their nonredundant counterparts. This result is significant because this shows that the RETWV technique, which is a time redundancy approach, can be used in high performance systems.