{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T17:19:16Z","timestamp":1778174356276,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,1]],"date-time":"2025-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743465600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,17]],"date-time":"2025-05-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747440000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":46,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021856","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022HWM3T9"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022HWM3T9"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021856","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Electron Test"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:p>The increasing complexity of Safety-Critical Real-Time Embedded Systems (SACRES) presents significant challenges regarding reliability, security, and trustworthiness. Key concerns include the system\u2019s vulnerability to instantaneous voltage spikes, electromagnetic interference, neutron strikes, and temperatures out of range, which can induce bit-flipping and consequentially temporary corruption of stored memory data and soft errors. These errors may result in system faults that could push the system into dangerous states. In high-stakes fields like automotive, aerospace, and avionics, such failures can have serious, real-world consequences, potentially endangering lives. This paper introduces an innovative, fully configurable fault injection tool designed to monitor and analyze the micro-architectural state of the system. This tool allows a tailored injection campaign, including both CPU registers and RAM, with a flexible fault model able to inject single and multi-bit-flipping in the application and Operating System (OS) space. Tracking the architectural events using the microprocessor\u2019s Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU) and debugging interface. A key feature is its ability to ensure the repeatability of fault injections, which focus on bit-flipping in memory systems. The results of these fault injections allow for a detailed analysis of how soft errors affect system performance, output integrity, and timing predictability, all of which are critical in SACRES.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,17]],"date-time":"2025-05-17T05:06:10Z","timestamp":1747458370000},"page":"193-208","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Real-time Embedded System Fault Injector Framework for Micro-architectural State Based Reliability Assessment"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"41","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-4089-1142","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enrico","family":"Magliano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0529-7950","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Savino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7512-5356","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Di Carlo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"6170_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"765","DOI":"10.1109\/TC.2018.2887225","volume":"68","author":"A Vallero","year":"2018","unstructured":"Vallero A, Savino A, Chatzidimitriou A, Kaliorakis M, Kooli M, Riera M, Anglada M, Di Natale G, Bosio A, Canal R et al (2018) Syra: Early system reliability analysis for cross-layer soft errors resilience in memory arrays of microprocessor systems. IEEE Trans Comput 68(5):765\u2013783","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Comput"},{"key":"6170_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kritikakou A, Sentieys O, Hubert G, Helen Y, Coulon J-F, Deroux-Dauphin P (2022) Flodam: Cross-layer reliability analysis flow for complex hardware designs. In: Proceedings of the 2022 conference & exhibition on design, automation & test in Europe. DATE \u201922, pp. 819\u2013824. European Design and Automation Association, Leuven, BEL","DOI":"10.23919\/DATE54114.2022.9774541"},{"key":"6170_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kooli M, Natale GD (2014) A survey on simulation-based fault injection tools for complex systems, pp 1\u20136","DOI":"10.1109\/DTIS.2014.6850649"},{"key":"6170_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Portolan M, Savino A, Leveugle R, Di\u00a0Carlo S, Bosio A, Di\u00a0Natale G (2019) Alternatives to fault injections for early safety\/security evaluations. In: 2019 IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS). IEEE, pp 1\u201310","DOI":"10.1109\/ETS.2019.8791555"},{"issue":"4","key":"6170_CR5","first-page":"9","volume":"13","author":"A Benso","year":"2011","unstructured":"Benso A, DiCarlo S (2011) The art of fault injection. J Control Eng Appl Inf 13(4):9\u201318","journal-title":"J Control Eng Appl Inf"},{"key":"6170_CR6","first-page":"245","volume":"39","author":"H Liang","year":"2017","unstructured":"Liang H, Sun H, Sun J, Huang Z, Xu X, Yi M, Ouyang Y, Lu Y, Yan A (2017) Fpga-based soft error sensitivity analysis method for microprocessor 39:245\u2013249","journal-title":"Fpga-based soft error sensitivity analysis method for microprocessor"},{"key":"6170_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Di Carlo S, Gambardella G, Prinetto P, Reichenbach F, Lokstad T, Rafiq G (2014) On enhancing fault injection\u2019s capabilities and performances for safety critical systems. In: 2014 17th Euromicro conference on digital system design. IEEE, pp 583\u2013590","DOI":"10.1109\/DSD.2014.12"},{"key":"6170_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Di Carlo S, Prinetto P, Rolfo D, Trotta P (2014) A fault injection methodology and infrastructure for fast single event upsets emulation on xilinx sram-based fpgas. In: 2014 IEEE international symposium on defect and fault tolerance in VLSI and nanotechnology systems (DFT), pp 159\u2013164. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/DFT.2014.6962073","DOI":"10.1109\/DFT.2014.6962073"},{"key":"6170_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1109\/32.666826","volume":"24","author":"J Carreira","year":"1998","unstructured":"Carreira J, Madeira H, Silva J (1998) Xception: A technique for the experimental evaluation of dependability in modern computers. Softw Eng, IEEE Trans on 24:125\u2013136","journal-title":"Softw Eng, IEEE Trans on"},{"issue":"2","key":"6170_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1109\/12.364536","volume":"44","author":"GA Kanawati","year":"1995","unstructured":"Kanawati GA, Kanawati NA, Abraham JA (1995) Ferrari: A flexible software-based fault and error injection system. IEEE Trans Comput 44(2):248\u2013260","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Comput"},{"key":"6170_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Benso A, Bosio A, Di Carlo S, Mariani R (2007) A functional verification based fault injection environment. In: 22nd IEEE international symposium on defect and fault-tolerance in VLSI systems (DFT 2007), pp 114\u2013122 (2007). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/DFT.2007.31","DOI":"10.1109\/DFT.2007.31"},{"key":"6170_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Benso A, Di Carlo S, Di Natale G, Prinetto P, Solcia I, Tagliaferri L (2003) Faust: fault-injection script-based tool. In: 9th IEEE on-line testing symposium, 2003. IOLTS 2003, p 160. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/OLT.2003.1214386","DOI":"10.1109\/OLT.2003.1214386"},{"key":"6170_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Magliano E, Carpegna A, Savino A, Di Carlo S (2024) A micro architectural events aware real-time embedded system fault injector. In: 2024 IEEE 25th Latin American Test Symposium (LATS), pp 1\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/LATS62223.2024.10534595","DOI":"10.1109\/LATS62223.2024.10534595"},{"key":"6170_CR14","unstructured":"Barry R (2023) FreeRTOS Real Time Kernel. Real Time Engineers Ltd., Real Time Engineers Ltd. https:\/\/www.freertos.org\/"},{"key":"6170_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang N, Mahesri A, Patel S (2007) Examining ACE analysis reliability estimates using fault-injection 35:460\u2013469","DOI":"10.1145\/1273440.1250719"},{"key":"6170_CR16","unstructured":"Bodmann P, Papadimitriou G, Rech Junior RL, Gizopoulos D, Rech P (2021) Soft error effects on arm microprocessors: Early estimations vs. chip measurements. IEEE Trans Comput 1\u20131"},{"key":"6170_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mamone D, Bosio A, Savino A, Hamdioui S, Rebaudengo M (2020) On the analysis of real-time operating system reliability in embedded systems. In: 2020 IEEE international symposium on defect and fault tolerance in VLSI and nanotechnology systems (DFT), pp 1\u20136","DOI":"10.1109\/DFT56152.2022.9962356"},{"issue":"4","key":"6170_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1109\/12.54853","volume":"39","author":"JH Barton","year":"1990","unstructured":"Barton JH, Czeck EW, Segall ZZ, Siewiorek DP (1990) Fault injection experiments using fiat. IEEE Trans Comput 39(4):575\u2013582","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Comput"},{"key":"6170_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Silva D, Stangherlin K, Bolzani L, Vargas F (2011) A hardware-based approach for fault detection in rtos-based embedded systems, p 209","DOI":"10.1109\/ETS.2011.64"},{"key":"6170_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bosio A, Rebaudengo M, Savino A (2022) Reliability assessment of freertos in embedded systems. In: 2022 52nd Annual IEEE\/IFIP international conference on dependable systems and networks - supplemental volume (DSN-S), pp 28\u201330","DOI":"10.1109\/DSN-S54099.2022.00019"},{"key":"6170_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Casseau E, Dobi\u00e1\u0161 P, Sinnen O, Rodrigues GS, Kastensmidt F, Savino A, Di Carlo S, Rebaudengo M, Bosio A (2021) Special session: Operating systems under test: an overview of the significance of the operating system in the resiliency of the computing continuum. In: 2021 IEEE 39th VLSI Test Symposium (VTS), pp 1\u201310","DOI":"10.1109\/VTS50974.2021.9441042"},{"key":"6170_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Buttazzo GC (2011) Hard real-time computing systems: predictable scheduling algorithms and applications. Springer, ???. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-1-4614-0676-1 . https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-1-4614-0676-1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4614-0676-1"},{"key":"6170_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kasap D, Carpegna A, Savino A, Di Carlo S (2023) Micro-architectural features as soft-error markers in embedded safety-critical systems: preliminary study. In: 2023 IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS), pp 1\u20135","DOI":"10.1109\/ETS56758.2023.10174219"},{"key":"6170_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Bosio A, Di Carlo S, Rebaudengo M, Savino A (2022) Toward the hardening of real-time operating systems. In: 2022 IEEE international symposium on defect and fault tolerance in VLSI and nanotechnology systems (DFT), pp 1\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/DFT56152.2022.9962356","DOI":"10.1109\/DFT56152.2022.9962356"},{"key":"6170_CR25","unstructured":"Mukherjee S (2011) Architecture design for soft errors. Morgan Kaufmann"},{"key":"6170_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Di\u00a0Natale G, Gizopoulos D, Di\u00a0Carlo S, Bosio A, Canal R (2020) (eds): Cross-layer reliability of computing systems. INST OF ENGIN AND TECH, Place of publication not identified . OCLC: 1191709900. http:\/\/public.eblib.com\/choice\/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=6341977 Accessed 2020-11-24","DOI":"10.1049\/PBCS057E"},{"key":"6170_CR27","first-page":"825","volume":"57","author":"M Mosdorf","year":"2011","unstructured":"Mosdorf M, Sosnowski J (2011) Fault injection in embedded systems using gnu debugger. Pomiary Automatyka Kontrola 57:825\u2013827","journal-title":"Pomiary Automatyka Kontrola"},{"key":"6170_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Lu Q, Farahani M, Wei J, Thomas A, Pattabiraman K (2015) Llfi: An intermediate code-level fault injection tool for hardware faults. In: 2015 IEEE international conference on software quality, reliability and security, pp 11\u201316. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/QRS.2015.13","DOI":"10.1109\/QRS.2015.13"},{"key":"6170_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Kooli M, Di Natale G, Bosio A (2016) Cache-aware reliability evaluation through llvm-based analysis and fault injection. In: 2016 IEEE 22nd international symposium on on-line testing and robust system design (IOLTS), pp 19\u201322. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/IOLTS.2016.7604663","DOI":"10.1109\/IOLTS.2016.7604663"},{"key":"6170_CR30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Chatzidimitriou A, Bodmann P, Papadimitriou G, Gizopoulos D, Rech P (2019) Demystifying soft error assessment strategies on arm cpus: Microarchitectural fault injection vs. neutron beam experiments. In: 2019 49th Annual IEEE\/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN), pp 26\u201338. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/DSN.2019.00018","DOI":"10.1109\/DSN.2019.00018"},{"key":"6170_CR31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102710","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sysarc.2022.102710","volume":"131","author":"J Gava","year":"2022","unstructured":"Gava J, Bandeira V, Rosa F, Garibotti R, Reis R, Ost L (2022) Sofia: An automated framework for early soft error assessment, identification, and mitigation. J Syst Arch 131:102710. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.sysarc.2022.102710","journal-title":"J Syst Arch"},{"issue":"2","key":"6170_CR32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1109\/12.364536","volume":"44","author":"GA Kanawati","year":"1995","unstructured":"Kanawati GA, Kanawati NA, Abraham JA (1995) Ferrari: a flexible software-based fault and error injection system. IEEE Trans Comput 44(2):248\u2013260. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/12.364536","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Comput"},{"issue":"2","key":"6170_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1109\/32.666826","volume":"24","author":"J Carreira","year":"1998","unstructured":"Carreira J, Madeira H, Silva JG (1998) Xception: a technique for the experimental evaluation of dependability in modern computers. IEEE Trans Software Eng 24(2):125\u2013136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/32.666826","journal-title":"IEEE Trans Software Eng"},{"issue":"5","key":"6170_CR34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1000","DOI":"10.1016\/j.microrel.2014.01.002","volume":"54","author":"M Ebrahimi","year":"2014","unstructured":"Ebrahimi M, Mohammadi A, Ejlali A, Miremadi SG (2014) A fast, flexible, and easy-to-develop fpga-based fault injection technique. Microelectron Reliab 54(5):1000\u20131008","journal-title":"Microelectron Reliab"},{"key":"6170_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Angione F, Bernardi P, Di Gruttola Giardino N, Appello D, Bertani C, Tancorre V (2023) A guided debugger-based fault injection methodology for assessing functional test programs. In: 2023 IEEE 41st VLSI Test Symposium (VTS), pp 1\u20137. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/VTS56346.2023.10140099","DOI":"10.1109\/VTS56346.2023.10140099"},{"key":"6170_CR36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Hanneman A, Gava J, Bandeira V, Garibotti R, Reis R, Ost L (2023) Debate-fi: A debugger-based fault injector infrastructure for iot soft error reliability assessment. In: 2023 IEEE 9th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), pp 1\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/WF-IoT58464.2023.10539573","DOI":"10.1109\/WF-IoT58464.2023.10539573"},{"key":"6170_CR37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dutto S, Savino A, Di Carlo S (2021) Exploring deep learning for in-field fault detection in microprocessors. In: 2021 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE), pp. 1456\u20131459. IEEE","DOI":"10.23919\/DATE51398.2021.9474120"},{"key":"6170_CR38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Pattabiraman K, Li KG (2022) Fault Injection at the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) Level, pp 239\u2013260. Chap. Chapter 9. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1049\/PBCS057E_ch9 . https:\/\/digital-library.theiet.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1049\/PBCS057E_ch9","DOI":"10.1049\/PBCS057E_ch9"},{"key":"6170_CR39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Yalcin G, Unsal OS, Cristal A, Valero M (2011) Fimsim: A fault injection infrastructure for microarchitectural simulators. In: 2011 IEEE 29th International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD), pp 431\u2013432 .https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ICCD.2011.6081435","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCD.2011.6081435"},{"key":"6170_CR40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Robinson GD (1994) Why 1149.1 (jtag) really works. In: Proceedings of ELECTRO \u201994, pp. 749\u2013754","DOI":"10.1109\/ELECTR.1994.472649"},{"key":"6170_CR41","unstructured":"Xilinx Software Command-Line Tool (XSCT). https:\/\/www.xilinx.com\/products\/design-tools\/software-zone\/sdsoc\/xsct.html. Accessed: November 25, 2023"},{"key":"6170_CR42","unstructured":"Xilinx PYNQ-Z2. https:\/\/www.xilinx.com\/products\/boards-and-kits\/pynq-z2.html. Accessed: November 25, 2023"},{"key":"6170_CR43","unstructured":"Limited A (2011) ARM Architecture Reference Manual: ARMv7-A and ARMv7-R Edition. ARM Limited, Cambridge, UK. ARM Limited. Document ID: DDI 0406C.b"},{"key":"6170_CR44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guthaus MR, Ringenberg JS, Ernst D, Austin TM, Mudge T, Brown RB (2001) Mibench: A free, commercially representative embedded benchmark suite. In: Proceedings of the Fourth Annual IEEE International Workshop on Workload Characterization. WWC-4 (Cat. No.01EX538), pp 3\u201314","DOI":"10.1109\/WWC.2001.990739"},{"key":"6170_CR45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Leveugle R, Calvez A, Maistri P, Vanhauwaert P (2009) Statistical fault injection: Quantified error and confidence. In: 2009 Design, automation & test in europe conference & exhibition, pp 502\u2013506. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/DATE.2009.5090716","DOI":"10.1109\/DATE.2009.5090716"},{"key":"6170_CR46","unstructured":"Mukherjee SS, Emer J, Reinhardt SK (2005) The soft error problem: An architectural perspective, pp 243\u2013247"}],"container-title":["Journal of Electronic Testing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,25]],"date-time":"2025-06-25T01:59:19Z","timestamp":1750816759000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]}},"alternative-id":["6170"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10836-025-06170-w","relation":{},"ISSN":["0923-8174","1573-0727"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0923-8174","type":"print"},{"value":"1573-0727","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"assertion":[{"value":"17 September 2024","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"4 April 2025","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"17 May 2025","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interest.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing Interests"}}]}}