Defect Tolerance of an Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array with a One-time Writable Volume Holographic Memory

• Main Authors: Mabuchi, T., Miyashiro, K., Watanabe, M., Ogiwara, A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Diffraction; Diode lasers; Field programmable gate arrays; Holographic optical components; Holography; Optical arrays; Optically Reconfigurable Gate Arrays; Robustness; Semiconductor laser arrays; Single Event Upsets; Triple Module Redundancy; Ultraviolet sources; Very large scale integration
• DOI: 10.1109/AHS.2009.62

Optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs) have been developed as a type of multi-context field programmable gate array to realize fast reconfiguration and numerous reconfiguration contexts. Along with such advantages, ORGAs have high defect tolerance. They consist simply of a holographic memory, a laser diode array, and a gate array VLSI. Even if a gate array VLSI includes defective areas, the ORGAs capability of perfectly parallel programmability enables avoidance of those defective areas through alternative use of other non-defective areas. Moreover, a holographic memory to store contexts is known to have high defect tolerance because each bit of a reconfiguration context can be generated from the entire holographic memory.Consequently, damage of a holographic memory rarely affects its diffraction pattern or a reconfiguration context. For that reason, ORGAs are extremely robust against component defects in devices such as a laser array, a gate array, and a holographic memory, and are particularly useful for space applications, which require high reliability.This paper presents experimentation related to the defect tolerance of new optically reconfigurable gate array with a one-time easily writable volume holographic memory.