Computer Hardware 'Guardians' Protect Users From Undiscovered Bugs

ACM TechNews relates how researchers at the University of Michigan developed a system that allows microprocessors to work around functional bugs, including those yet undetected.

Intel and other chipmakers uncover bugs by simulating different scenarios, commands, and configurations a processor might encounter. However, not all bugs are found since it is practically impossible to simulate every possibility. The researchers' system builds a virtual fence that prevents chips from operating in untested configurations. The system tracks all configurations that a company tested and then stores that information on a tiny monitor that is added to each processor. The miniscule monitor, called a "semantic guardian", works by keeping the processor inside its virtual fence. When the chip encounters an untested configuration, it switches the processor to a slower safe mode.

"Users wouldn't even notice when their processor switched to safe mode," said Valeria Bertacco, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "It would happen infrequently, and it would only last momentarily, to get the computer through the uncharted territory. Then the chip would flip back to its regular mode."

See details at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN NEWS SERVICE.