[FAQ] TDA4VL-Q1: Recommendations for testing ECC error injection

Hi,

The following are the general recommendations on when the error injection on ECC aggregators must be performed:

• The ECC error injection and monitoring of the error response should be run at ‘startup’ where possible.
• An alternative recommended approach is to run ECC error injection at ‘shutdown’.

When running of ECC error injection during ‘runtime’, the system integrator must be aware of the below:

For interconnect endpoints:

• The ECC SEC error injection runs during idle cycles, so can be run during ‘runtime’ for checkers of all types.
  • Parity and redundant bit error injections are non-destructive and can be done at runtime.
• The ECC DED error injection runs during idle cycles, so can be run during ‘runtime’.
  • Only single bit error injections are to be done on parity/redundant checker types. This is because these protect odd number of injections. A 2 bit injection on parity will not cause a failure.

For RAM memories:

• ECC self-test for SEC on RAM memories, can be run at runtime:
  • The ECC self-test for SEC injects a single-bit error that is corrected in-line.
• ECC DED error injection during ‘runtime’ for RAM memories, should only be done for memories with direct read access
  • Two examples of direct read access memories are MSMC SRAM and MCU SRAM
  • Double-bit error injection on all other embedded SRAMS could possibly result in the downstream IP reading bad data if run during ‘runtime’
• ECC error injection on inject-only memories, should be run at ‘startup’, they are not recommended to be run during ‘runtime’. For more information on these memories

Regards,

Josiitaa