FYP progress 3

Week 10

Analyse Problem

1. What are the issues?

- What method and software to use for fault tolerance test?

- How to reduce the area and power consumption for base-4 booth multiplier?

2. What does the literature say about this issue(s)?

• The method used for masking the fault is Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR). This method is pioneered by John von Neumann in the early 1950s to enhance the system’s reliability. The platform used for this test is Synopsys.

• For TMR method, due to the replication of the functional block and additional block for fault-masking, the overhead of power dissipation and area consumption will occur and the performance of the system degrades. Thus, this method is merely widely used in life-critical applications only such as nuclear power plant control systems, radiation therapy machines, pacemakers, military radar systems and spacecraft as the system’s safety is more dominant compared to system’s performance.

3. Who is affected by the issue(s) and what solution will benefit the user (stakeholder)?

The issue mostly affected to electronic and mechanical engineer. As mentioned above, this approach is only widely used in life-critical applications and spacecraft systems. Therefore, the solution will benefit users related to the above-mentioned fields.

4. What is the ‘best’ solution(s)? (your recommendation)

Design high fault masking rate base-4 booth multiplier with low area and power consumption.

5. What are the strength and weakness of the ‘best’ solution? (evaluation)

Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) is one of the approaches to mask the fault by replicating the functional block and feed into the major voter circuit to pass the majority output. If one of the functional blocks fails, the remaining blocks still able to take priority over the incorrect output and propagate the majority value to the output. But due to it require at least two additional blocks to compare with the initial result for fault-masking, this causes a large amount of heat energy dissipated and area consumption. This is contradict with our objective.

Generate Potential Solution

1. State whether the project is from other exiting, hybrids or gap filling solution?

The project is from existing and also hybrid solution based on the literature review from other peoples works.

Week 11

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• What are the advantages of the recommended solution?

High fault masking rate but low power dissipation and area consumption.

• What does the solution do better than other methods?

Multiplier is more efficient than adder. TMR was a most popular static redundant architecture for large, complex systems.

Weakness:

• How you can improve the method

I will try to reduce the power dissipation and area consumption as much as possible.

• What should you avoid?

The fundamental assumption is applied in TMR that no internal fault will be occurs in the majority voter circuit. Therefore I need to avoid the internal fault occur.

• What are the likely drawbacks of the method?

By applying TMR method, internal fault is not allow.

Opportunities:

• Could this method sustain in years to come?

Yes. I believe this method can sustain for many years as TMR was a most popular static redundant architecture for large, complex systems.

• Could this method changes with government policy related to the field?

In my opinion this method will not change with government policy.

• Could this method changes with lifestyle and populations?

In my opinion this method will not change with lifestyle and population.

Threats:

• What are the obstacles?

The contradiction between fault-masking rate and power/area consumption.

• Are there any similar method/product exist /in the market?

There is similar method exist in the market.

• Could the weakness of the method degrade the performance of the system/device?

Yes. The performance of the system is also depend on the heat dissipation. Therefore I need to find a method to reduce the heat dissipation.

Week 12

Safety:

1. Is the system/model/device design pose any hazards (A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone).

The system will not cause any harm or adverse to someone or something.

2. Does the system/model/ device comply with government regulation?

The system should be complied with the government regulation.

Environmental:

1. Can the product be reused/ reduced or recycle?

In my opinion, the product can be reused after repair.

2. Can the design reduce energy consumption?

Yes. This is one of my objective.

3. Will the process of the project contribute to hazardous gas emission/ ozone depletion/ resource depletion?

The process will not contribute to hazardous gas emission/ ozone depletion/ resource depletion.

Design solution in global and societal context:

1. Is the system/ model/ design cost effective?

The system design cost will be cost effective as it is using Quartus II and Synopsys to design.

2. How can your design benefit the community?

Fault-tolerant architecture plays a crucial role in the safety and mission-critical application such as space and medical application. This design can be beneficial to engineer and maintenance as it can determine whether the system still functioning properly or has been completely broken.

Construct a FYP1 Gantt Chart