Case Study: UVM-FIE: Enhancing UVM-Based Fault Injection Library for Complex Designs

Simulation-based software fault injection is the most used method for fault injection whenever the verification of a system robustness or fault-tolerance capability is aimed. UVM-FI is a SystemC-based approach, proposed previously to enhance UVM libraries with fault-injection features. The current paper presents UVM-FIE, with key enhancements made to the previous version: The SystemC Code Converter to broaden the scope of supported variables, and the Random Fault Injector to automate fault injection into the RTL design. The improvements have been tested and validated with XINA, an Network-on-Chip (NoC) router design, demonstrating their ability to streamline fault injection in complex designs and promote system reliability through extensive fault testing.