Predicting the Influence of Software on the Reliability of Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Technology Microprocessors in a Space Radiation Environment

State-of-the-art commercial microprocessors are attractive for use in cost effective space missions because, they are readily available, they are of high packaging density, cheap and capable of supporting extensive software. However, because they are not radiation hardened, they are susceptible to single event upset (SEU) caused by ionizing radiation. Being able to predict, in advance, the observable SEU induced error rate in a microprocessor is therefore essential. Using the 8051 processor as an example, a new method has being developed for this purpose and is presented here