White-Box Error Effect Simulation for Assisted Safety Analysis

This paper presents an approach on extending virtual prototyping, commonly used for system verification and design space exploration, for safety analysis. Virtual prototyping will enhance safety analysis, overcoming the challenges resulting from the ever-increasing number of safety-related, complex, interconnected electronic systems. The presented integral fault injection framework enables safety analysis in combination with established system verification methods. It consists of a fault behavior specification methodology and the corresponding, reusable injection tool, with focus on seamless applicability in between functional models in early concept phases and low-level structural models in late design phases. Our approach works with third party compilers and simulators while providing a minimal intrusive approach using existing models. Selected use cases at gate, register-transfer and functional level demonstrate the usage of the approach.