The Cortex-A53 MPCore processor supports cache protection in the form of ECC on all RAM instances in the processor using the following separate protection elements:
- SCU-L2 cache protection
- CPU cache protection
These elements enable the Cortex-A53 MPCore processor to detect and correct a 1-bit error in any RAM, and to detect 2-bit errors.
Cortex-A53 MPCore RAMs are protected against single-event-upset (SEU) such that the processor system can detect and then, take specific action to continue making progress without data corruption. Some RAMs have parity single-error detect (SED) capability, while others have ECC single-error correct, double-error detect (SECDED) capability.
The RPU includes two major safety features:
- Lock-step operation, shown in the following figure.
- Error checking and correction, described further in Error Checking and Correction.