Software Implemented Transient Fault Detection

This paper aims to describe how to detect errors in microprocessors (MPs) by checking the processor status word (PSW). Electrical transients often corrupt the bit-patterns in various processor registers. This paper describes a software fix (SF) for the detection of operational faults in a MP or in a micro-controller system through detection of bit errors in PSW. A MP or a micro-controller-based application system can be made a robust one with this proposed SF through establishing a fail-stop kind of transient fault tolerance at a very low cost. The proposed approach is intended to detect MPs’ bit errors during the run-rime of a MP system. The proposed SFs aim to supplement the intrinsic error detection mechanism of a MP. Here, it is not intended to correct bit errors; rather, it is intended to detect bit errors in MP.