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Maxed Out: Radiation vs. Your Embedded System
January 23, 2013 |Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Well, I'm currently having a whole lot of fun. As I mentioned in my previous column, I'm the Editor in Chief for the All Programmable Planet (APP) website. I also managed to mention that I'm the track chair for the "Processors and Programmable Devices Track" at the forthcoming Design West conference and exhibition, which is to be held April 22-25, 2013, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
Now, much like my wife (Gina the Gorgeous), there's not much I enjoy better than hearing myself speak, so the really fun thing is that I will be presenting a couple of papers at Design West. One of these sessions is titled Danger Will Robinson! How Radiation Can Affect Your Embedded Systems.
Of course, it just struck me that our younger readers may not be familiar with the classic science fiction television series Lost In Space from the late 1960s. Looking back, this show was cheesy beyond belief. As a kid, however, I thought it was absolutely wonderful – especially the robot, who, at least once an episode, would warn his young human charge of a threat by using oft-repeated phrases such as "Warning! Warning!" and "That does not compute," and, of course, "Danger, Will Robinson!"
As I mention in the description for this session, in order to increase capacity and performance while reducing power consumption and lowering costs, each new generation of silicon chips features smaller and smaller transistors. These structures are now so small that they can be affected by the levels of radiation found on the Earth. Radiation-induced errors can result in a telecom router shutting down, an automobile failing to respond to a command, an implantable medical device incorrectly interpreting a patient's condition and responding inappropriately, and the list goes on.
My presentation will explain how radiation can affect electronic components and systems: for example, slowing things down (by up to 30% over time) and causing functional errors, like flipping the contents of registers and memory elements from 0 to 1, or vice versa. Also considered will be some of the ways in which we can create rad-hard devices and rad-tolerant designs. This is actually a really interesting topic, not the least that it's surprising how little most folks know about radiation. When I asked my wife what she knew about radiation, her reply was "Only that I don’t want to be in the same room as it!"
This is pretty much the same response I get from a lot of engineers and designers – they know that radiation can be dangerous, but when you ask them to explain exactly what radiation is, they look blank and then remember that there's somewhere else they have to be, doing something else that's jolly important.
Thus, I will start my talk by introducing the two main types of radiation. First, we have electromagnetic waves in the form of photons, which range from radio waves at one end of the spectrum to gamma rays at the other end. Alternatively, we have particles, including protons, neutrons, alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta particles (electrons), and also heavier ions. And we also have cosmic rays, which really aren’t rays at all – they're extremely energetic particles.
But wait, there's more, because we also have ionizing vs. non-ionizing radiation. What's the difference? Well, if I tell you that, you'll know everything I know. The best thing for you to do would be to (a) attend Design West, (b) watch my presentation, and (c) buy me a beer afterwards. Failing that, I'm sure I'll be discussing this in greater depth in future columns after the conference.
But that's not what I wanted to talk you about...
A Theatrical Flourish
Have you ever been to a presentation that was so dry and boring that you began to doze off? Well, that's not going to happen on my watch! I'm in the process of creating a bit of a theatrical prop – something I can use to demonstrate how even an item as innocuous as a smartphone can cause undesirable effects in electronic systems. I'm thinking of a Steampunk look-and-feel – something that looks like it could have come from a Victorian science fiction film, had there been such a thing.
As a starting point, I'm going to use a rather interesting wood-and-leather offering from Amazon as shown below. I'll be using the larger, outer case for my demo. My inventor friend Brian LaGrave, who is a master at rooting out interesting things on the Internet, tracked this little rascal down for me. The advantages of this case are that (a) it looks out-of-the-ordinary, (b) it looks as though it could contain something important, and (c) it's small enough for me to easily carry it around.
Of course you wouldn’t know this contained an electronic system unless we equip it with external elements like switches and lights. You can find the most amazing things if you root around in the pleasure dome (my office).
As a starting point, I'm planning on using three antique telephone switches as shown below:
These really are "things of beauty and a joy to behold," as the old saying goes. I'm not sure exactly when they were constructed but they were designed to run forever. (They could have been built anywhere from the 1930s to the 1970s as far as I know – does anyone have any ideas?). In fact, an old guy visiting someone else in my building was walking past my office when he glanced in and saw these switches on my desk. He immediately came in, picked them up and caressed them lovingly, and then informed me that all the contacts had a layer of platinum to ensure reliability. I never knew that.
And a couple of days ago, a small box arrived in my office from my chum Rick Curl, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and who well knows my love of old stuff. This package contained a bunch of old red, amber, and green light covers, which by some strange quirk of fate will be perfect for my project.
I'm planning on mounting three of these light covers – one of each color – on the outside of my suitcase. I've still got to decide exactly how this will all work. Inside the case will be a microcontroller-based system.
When I flick the first switch at the beginning of the presentation, maybe the amber light will illuminate; when I flick the second switch, maybe both the amber and green lights will be illuminated; and when I flick the third switch, it could be that the amber light is extinguished and only the green light remains.
Sometime later during the presentation, we will see how a radiation-induced event triggered by a smartphone can cause the electronic system inside the suitcase to "throw a wobbly," at which time the red light will start flashing and an alarm will sound. It wouldn’t surprise me if this were to occur right at the end of my talk, just after I ask, "Are there any questions?"
What do you think? Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make this prop even better? If so, please e-mail me at Max@CliveMaxfield.com. Until next time, have a good one!
Clive (Max) Maxfield is founder/consultant at Maxfield High-Tech Consulting. He is the author and co-author of a number of books, including Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics) and How Computers Do Math featuring the pedagogical and phantasmagorical virtual DIY Calculator. To contact Max, click here.