A flight experiment for the evaluation of hardware and software fault tolerance techniques

International audienceIn this paper are described the motivations and main features of a flight experiment devoted to gather objective data about the efficiency of different techniques for fault detection and correction in digital architectures. This experiment is intended to be included in the NASA project LWS/SET (Living With a Star/ Space Environment Testbed) project, with a launch expected in 2004. Preliminary data issued from radiation ground testing performed with various heavy ion particle beams is presented. These results provide evidences of the validity of hardware and software mechanisms implemented to cope with the effects of transient fault provoked in integrated digital circuits by energetic particles present in space environment