Robust System Design.

Robust system design ensures that future systems continue to meet user expectations despite rising levels of underlying disturbances. This paper discusses two essential aspects of robust system design: 1. Effective post-silicon validation, despite staggering complexity of future systems, using a new technique called Instruction Footprint Recording and Analysis (IFRA). 2. Cost-effective design of systems that overcome CMOS reliability challenges through built-in tolerance to errors in hardware during system operation. A combination of Built-In Soft Error Resilience (BISER) and circuit failure prediction, together with on-line self-test/diagnostics and software-orchestrated optimization across multiple abstraction layers, enable design of cost-effective resilient systems.