A self-reconfigurable platform for built-in-self-test applications

Abstract

This thesis introduces a novel architecture of a run-time reconfigurable microsystem on chip (SoC). This system consists of a logic block that can be reconfigured at run time, and an embedded multi-microprocessor system that connects to this logic block and can reconfigure it at run time using special resources of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). A design flow for run-time reconfigurable logic circuits has been developed and is presented in the context of the implementation of the SoC on a FPGA. This reconfigurable architecture is validated by an application that implements the novel idea of verifying algorithms for testing digital circuits by using run-time reconfigurable techniques, in order to minimize circuit area, as well as test generation and application time. The idea revolves around the dynamic partial reconfiguration of circuits under test, in order to inject stuck-at faults at different locations of the circuit, to verify for and uncover logic structural faults. The thesis presents the design and implementation of a self-reconfigurable platform, where faults are injected at run-time to the circuit under test. It analyzes the ways of injecting faults and the run-time reconfiguration overhead associated with it, while the rest of the circuit is present on the reconfigurable architecture, in order to validate run-time reconfigurable built-in-self-test techniques, as compared to the more traditional methods.