UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE 655/597-FT: Fault Tolerant Computing
Fall 2009

Description: A course on the theory and practice of fault tolerant systems.

• The topics to be covered include:

  • 1. Introduction.
  • 2. Hardware fault tolerance.
  • 3. Information redundancy.
  • 4. Fault-tolerant Networks.
  • 5. Software fault-tolerance.
  • 6. Checkpointing.
  • 7. Defect tolerance in VLSI circuits.
  • 8. Fault detection in cryptographic systems.

• Mid-term 1 Exam
  After Lecture 13, 2 hours. You may use during the exam your own lecture notes, graded homework and the course lecture notes only. No other materials including books, the web-based software or any other software are allowed.
  • Sample Mid-Term 1 (Postscript file) (pdf file)
  • Selected solutions to Sample Mid-Term 1 (Postscript file)
• Mid-term 2 Exam
  After Lecture 23, 2 hours. You may use during the exam your own lecture notes, graded homework and the course lecture notes only. No other materials including books, the web-based software or any other software are allowed. Material covered: Parts 11-17.
• Homework Assignments
• Möbius information.
• USAN information.
• Simulator.
• Quiz.
• Lecture venue:
  The 21st lecture will be on Monday Nov. 23 at 9:30 - 10:45am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB
  The 22nd lecture will be on Wednesday Nov. 25 at 9:30 - 10:45am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB
  The 23rd lecture will be on Monday Nov. 30 at 9:30 - 10:45am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB
  The 2nd MidTerm will be on Wednesday Dec. 2 at 9:00 - 11:00am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB
  The 24th lecture will be on Monday Dec. 7 at 9:30 - 10:45am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB - presentations
  The 25th lecture will be on Wednesday Dec. 9 at 9:30 - 10:45am in the 3rd floor conference room in KEB - presentations
• Lecture notes (pdf format):
  • Part 1, Part 2
  • Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
  • Part 6, Part 7
  • Part 8, Part 9
  • Part 10, Part 11
  • Part 12, Part 13
  • Part 14, Part 15
  • Part 16, Part 17
  • Part 18,
• Instructor: Prof. Israel Koren, KEB 309E, Tel. 545-2643, Email: koren 'at' ecs.umass.edu
• Prerequisites: Basic courses in Digital Design, Hardware Organization/Computer Architecture, and Probability.
• Course References.
• Recommended book: I. Koren and C. M. Krishna, Fault-Tolerant Systems, Morgan-Kaufman, 2007.
• Recommended reading:
  • M.L. Shooman, Reliability of Computer Systems and Networks: Fault Tolerance, Analysis, and Design, Wiley, 2002, ISBN 0-471-29342-3.
  • D.P. Siewiorek and R.S. Swarz, Reliable Computer Systems: Design and Evaluation, A.K. Peters, 1998.
  • D.K. Pradhan (ed.), Fault Tolerant Computer System Design, Prentice-Hall, 1996.
  • B.W. Johnson, Design and Analysis of Fault-Tolerant Digital Systems, Addison-Wesley, 1989.
• Course web page: All details regarding the course will be available at:
  http://euler.ecs.umass.edu/ece655.
• Grading:
  • Homework - 10%
  • Mid-term 1 - 30%
  • Mid-term 2 - 30%
  • Project or Seminar - 30%
• Links