Using Hardware-In-Loop-Based Fault Injection to Determine the Effects of Control Flow Errors in Industrial Control Programs

Embedded systems, which are at the core of many small scale and large scale machines, are affected by external disturbances which can introduce control flow errors. These control flow errors can affect the control program executing on the embedded system, potentially causing sensor signals to be misinterpreted or actuators being mis-controlled. Software-implemented control flow error detection techniques have existed for many years, although there is little literature about these techniques being tested on input/output-driven programs. This paper presents a hardware-in-loop-based fault injection campaign performed on a typical industrial setting, i.e. a small scale factory. Thanks to hardware-in-loop simulation, we can perform the fault injection campaign without the risk of breaking a mechanical or an electrical part. For our fault injection campaign, we considered both the unprotected control program and the version protected with our RACFED error detection technique. The results show that up to 58% of the injected control flow errors can affect the unprotected control program in a dangerous manner. Implementing RACFED clearly lowers this percentage to less than 4%, showing this technique can be used in industrial settings.

ISBN:978-3-030-54549-9

Publication year:2020

Accessibility:Open