Radiation-hardened configuration context realization for field programmable gate arrays.

Abstract

In space environments and at nuclear power plants, data can be destroyed by radiation, even data recorded on flash memories. To realize a radiation-hardened configuration context for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) under such radiation environments, this paper presents a proposal of a method to increase the radiation tolerance of configuration contexts used for FPGAs by introducing a holographic memory technology and a new FPGA architecture. When reading a configuration context from holographic memory, the context robustness depends on the number of bright bits on the configuration context. Our proposed method exploits that holographic memory property and uses a new FPGA architecture to fit the property to increase the radiation tolerance of configuration contexts from holographic memory. This paper presents simulation results and an experimental demonstration result.