处理器容错技术研究与展望

Processor Fault-Tolerance Technology Research and Prospect

随着生产工艺的进步和硅形体尺寸的缩小,计算机系统面临着前所未有的瞬态故障影响,可信计算已经成为桌面级和嵌入式系统设计和应用的热点,其中以处理器的可信设计为核心.首先,从容错技术角度对处理器提出了一种新颖的、比较全面的分类方法;在此基础上,以处理器容错技术发展趋势为线索,对目前流行的处理器结构、微结构的容错机制和容错技术以及不同层次上有代表性的最新研究成果做了介绍和分析;最后,对处理器容错技术研究新趋势及其发展方向提出了意见和建议.

As technology advances and silicon feature size shrinks, computer system is faced with inevitably increasing risks of transient-fault susceptibility. Accordingly, processor dependability and trustworthiness have become the major problems of the application systems. Recently, much work has been done at different levels to accomplish fault-tolerance in processor systems against transient-faults. In this paper, a novel and comprehensive taxonomy of the latest processor fault-tolerance researches is put forward. Based on this taxonomy, the techniques of incorporating fault-tolerance, especially transient fault-tolerance, in modern processor systems at different levels are reviewed. Some important processor fault-tolerance architectures and representative researches are also briefly introduced and analyzed. Finally, some valuable advice and possible trends in processor fault-tolerance researches are proposed, hoping they will benefit related researchers.