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From: gregc@cimage.com (Greg Cronau)
Newsgroups: sci.space,comp.theory
Subject: Request for info on SEU programming theory.
Message-ID: <1991Feb5.080502.4130@cimage.com>
Date: 5 Feb 91 08:05:02 GMT
Reply-To: gregc@cimage.com (Greg Cronau/10000)
Organization: Cimage Corp, Ann Arbor, MI
Lines: 19

I may soon be involved in writing software for an on-board
micro-controller for a satellite. I have been told that it will orbit in
the Van-allen radiation belts, so the liklyhood of SEU's (single event
upsets) is expected to be rather high. One of the reasons that I am being
considered for the job is that I have a fair amount of experience in
designing error-tolerant/error-correcting software systems. (Several
automotive assembly plant automatic machines with user interfaces that
have to be operable by the average rhesus monkey, communication systems
with error correcting protocols, etc.) But a system wherein the code used
to check for errors is itself suspect is something new to me.
I *think* I know what is necasary to design this system, but I *know* 
that there is going to be some gotcha's that won't occur to me. I would
rather not re-invent the wheel. I am looking for references to papers,
articles, books, etc. that touch on the subject of writing software for
this kind of environment. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Greg Cronau

gregc@cimage.com