Software Instrumentation for Failure Analysis of USB Host Controllers
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Major
Computer Science
Research Advisor
Sedigh, Sahra
Advisor's Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Funding Source
Samsung
Abstract
Failures caused by electrostatic discharge (ESD) compromise the reliability of embedded systems. Peripherals, such as the universal serial bus (USB) are particularly vulnerable, as isolating them to avoid electromagnetic interference would defy their purpose - facilitating communication with and/or by the embedded system. Better understanding the propagation of failures that result from ESD would facilitate defensive development of hardware and software for embedded systems, but is hampered by the lack of non-invasive and lightweight instrumentation techniques. This paper proposes the use of software instrumentation for monitoring the reaction of the USB peripheral of an embedded system to ESD. It describes the efforts towards detection and root cause analysis of ESD-induced failures - correlating changes in the operation of the peripheral with the specific pin subjected to ESD. The work described is intended as proof-of-concept for the development and use of (in situ) software instrumentation for lightweight acquisition of data that can be used for runtime failure analysis and actuation of self-healing mechanisms, as well as postmortem statistical analysis of system reliability, availability, and survivability.
Biography
Nathan is a senior in Computer Science. He has been involved in undergraduate research for three semesters and enjoys the variety of work, from kernel driver hacking to theoretical CS problem analysis. When not studying computational intelligence and data analysis, he can often be found working on his cars or spending time with his wife. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science once he graduates this December.
Research Category
Engineering
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Location
Carver Room
Presentation Date
03 Apr 2013, 9:30 am - 10:00 am
Software Instrumentation for Failure Analysis of USB Host Controllers
Carver Room
Failures caused by electrostatic discharge (ESD) compromise the reliability of embedded systems. Peripherals, such as the universal serial bus (USB) are particularly vulnerable, as isolating them to avoid electromagnetic interference would defy their purpose - facilitating communication with and/or by the embedded system. Better understanding the propagation of failures that result from ESD would facilitate defensive development of hardware and software for embedded systems, but is hampered by the lack of non-invasive and lightweight instrumentation techniques. This paper proposes the use of software instrumentation for monitoring the reaction of the USB peripheral of an embedded system to ESD. It describes the efforts towards detection and root cause analysis of ESD-induced failures - correlating changes in the operation of the peripheral with the specific pin subjected to ESD. The work described is intended as proof-of-concept for the development and use of (in situ) software instrumentation for lightweight acquisition of data that can be used for runtime failure analysis and actuation of self-healing mechanisms, as well as postmortem statistical analysis of system reliability, availability, and survivability.
