Predictive analysis of configuration bit criticality in SRAM-based FPGAs – Methodology, tools, and results

National audienceThe interest for SRAM based FPGAs has increased in the last few years in embedded systems, due to cost and reconfigurability motivations. Such systems may operate in harsh environments with for example ionizing radiations, and the application may require a high level of dependability. When the FPGAs are not developed on radiation-hardened technologies, using them in critical applications requires evaluating the criticality of modifications in their configuration. This paper summarizes an approach to evaluate at design time the criticality of the various bits in the configuration file of such a FPGA. It is illustrated with some results on an Atmel componen