The SEM Controller implements five main functions: initialization, error injection, error detection, error correction, and error classification. All functions, except initialization and detection, are optional; desired functions are selected during the IP core configuration and generation process.
The SEM Controller initializes by bringing the integrated soft error detection capability of the FPGA into a known state after the FPGA enters user mode. After this initialization, the SEM Controller observes the integrated soft error detection status. When an ECC or CRC error is detected, the SEM Controller evaluates the situation to identify the Configuration Memory location involved.
If the location can be identified, the SEM Controller optionally corrects the soft error by repairing it or by replacing the affected bits. The repair methods use active partial reconfiguration to perform a localized correction of Configuration Memory using a read-modify-write scheme. These methods use algorithms to identify the error in need of correction. The replace method also uses active partial reconfiguration with the same goal, but this method uses a write-only scheme to replace Configuration Memory with original data. This data is provided by the implementation tools and stored outside the SEM Controller.
The SEM Controller optionally classifies the soft error as essential or non-essential using a lookup table. Information is fetched as needed during execution of error classification. This data is also provided by the implementation tools and stored outside the SEM Controller.
When the SEM Controller is idle, it optionally accepts input from you to inject errors into Configuration Memory. This feature is useful for testing the integration of the SEM Controller into a larger system design. Using the error injection feature, system verification and validation engineers can construct test cases to ensure the complete system responds to soft error events as expected.