best practice in redundant microcontrollers!

[elecfan]

best practice for redundant microcontrollers!

Dear All
I am going to use two ARM micros in a redundant configuration, in which the slave micro comes to service, when the Master one fails to operate, or fails to provide an output.

since the operation needs to use the processing history, I have to keep both micros in active mode (Hot redundancy)

could u please share your experience, in what config I should design my system in order to improve the reliability of the system and also increase the life time of the slave mico?

Best regards

 

[andre_luis]

You will hardly achieve full redundancy without some loss of information resulting from the transition of control from one to another. Take a look at "multicore super scalar design" to get a feel for the current archicteture technologies suited for this feature. Perhaps for a standard ARM, you might consider doing a protocol that shares between both cores, levels of statuses in descending layers, going down into more or less detail as needed in each case.

 

[elecfan]

Many thanks for your comment.
is the reference you mentioned a paper or technical report?
Unfortunately I could not find it in google.

Best regards

 

[andre_luis]

It was not really clear, what I meant was to look for those keywords and the idea behind them, not exactly the above full text. Some Intel processors implement a concept of parallelism, but done within the same chip and this may not be what you are looking for, in this case, it aims the execution of distinct tasks, not the redundancy itself; So, once you said you're using an ARM core, I suggested considering to create a proprietary protocol for data exchange between both processors, so that the backup would be always up to date.

 

[elecfan]

if I use the above config, and send the data from both micros to the computers, via four different CAN buses, shouldn't be enough to rely on what is provided in the computer?
or still you think it is necessary to keep a backup on the electronic boards as well?

In this case, keeping the master backup on slave or vise versa?
or adding an additional module to keep the backup of bothe master and slave on it?

 

[andre_luis]

You did not initially mention computers in your system, and this adds a layer of complexity to the analysis; Your question is general, I mean, it refers to architecture, but it does not concern the operation itself. I believe that you are the one who can evaluate the pros and cons of adding an information traffic between both modules.