In this paper, we introduce an Application-guided Reliability-enhanced Register file Architecture (ARRA) to improve the reliability of RF in embedded processors. ARRA proposes a RF micro-architecture which is guided by binary instrumentation for run-time register mirroring. Our experimental results on an ARRA-enhanced Blackfin processor present that on average the power overhead of ARRA is 70% less than that of a partially-ECC-protected RF, while ARRA reduces RF Vulnerability Factor from 35% to 6.9%, and can correct up to three bit-flips errors.

Tabkhi_VLSI-SoC12.pdf