Learning-Based Modeling and Optimization for Real-Time System Availability

As the density of integrated circuits continues to increase, the possibility that real-time systems suffer from soft and hard errors rises significantly, resulting in a degraded availability of system. In this article, we investigate the dynamic modeling of cross-layer soft error rate based on the Back Propagation (BP) neural network, and propose optimization strategies for system availability based on Cross Entropy (CE) and Q-learning algorithms. Specifically, the BP neural network is trained using cross-layer simulation data obtained from SPICE simulation while the optimization for system availability is achieved by judiciously selecting an optimal supply voltage for processors under timing constraints. Simulation results show that the CE-based method can improve system availability by up to 32 percent compared to state-of-the-art methods, and the Q-learning-based algorithm can further enhance system availability by up to 20 percent compared to the proposed CE-based method.