Luca Sterpone

Bio: Luca Sterpone is an academic researcher from Polytechnic University of Turin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Fault injection & Field-programmable gate array. The author has an hindex of 24, co-authored 222 publications receiving 3125 citations. Previous affiliations of Luca Sterpone include Instituto Politécnico Nacional.

Fault-Tolerant Manager Core for Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration in FPGAs

Abstract: Critical applications must rely on fault-tolerant systems in order to guarantee an error-free execution since the cost of a system fault can be paid in terms of millions of dollars or, even worse, in terms of human lives. In this context, Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) enables a more optimized and reliable usage of state-of-the-art Xilinx SRAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) resources over space and time. DPR techniques make use of the Internal Configuration Access Port (ICAP), an internal FPGA interface that allows changing on the fly the functionality of a portion of its logic. Unfortunately, a standard DPR flow requires the use of at least a microprocessor (MicroBlaze, PowerPC or ARM), extra memories due to the microprocessor and several peripherals, which results in dense and complex designs that may be easily corrupted by radiation incidence. This chapter presents a generic DPR manager core that has been optimized to provide high reliability. Results are shown in terms of performance, resources utilization and fault tolerance capability, which reinforce its advantages over traditional solutions.

Fast Partial Reconfiguration on SRAM-Based FPGAs: A Frame-Driven Routing Approach

Abstract: Reconfigurable SRAM-based FPGAs are increasingly attractive for high performance reconfigurable computing cores due to their flexibility, upgradability and computational capabilities. In general, Partial Reconfiguration (PR) improves the reconfigurable computing paradigm due to the possibility to modify only a portion of the FPGA’s configuration memory, which results in reduced reconfiguration time. However, the speed-up gain SRAM-based FPGAs are able to achieve relies on the efficiency of the mechanism adopted to load frames in the FPGA’s configuration memory. Despite the advantages of configuration memory Partial Reconfiguration, the lack of tools and design software to implement efficient frame-oriented configuration makes PR performance less powerful then expectation. In this work, we propose an approach to reduce the reconfiguration time of routing resources exploiting a frame-driven routing algorithm able to drastically reduce the number of configuration memory frames used in the design. The advantage of the proposed solution has been applied to several benchmark circuits implemented with our routing algorithm on a Xilinx Kintex-7 SRAM-based FPGA. Experimental results shown a reduction of the used configuration frames of more than 40% on the average and a measured reconfiguration time reduced of more than 35% with respect to traditional reconfiguration approaches.

On the evaluation of SEU effects on AXI interconnect within AP-SoCs

Abstract: G-Programmable System-on-Chips offering the union of a processor system with a programmable hardware gave rise to applications that choose hardware acceleration to offload and parallelize computationally demanding tasks. Due to flexibility and performance they provide at low cost, these devices are also appealing for several applications in avionics, aerospace and automotive sectors, where reliability is the main concern. In particular, the interconnection architecture, and especially the AXI Interconnection for FPGA-accelerated applications, plays a critical role in these systems. This paper presents a reliability analysis of the AXI Interconnect IP Core implemented on Zynq-7000 AP-SoC against SEUs in the configuration memory of the programmable logic. The analysis has been conducted performing a fault injection campaign on the specific section of the configuration memory implementing the IP Core under test, which has been implemented within a benchmark design. The results are analyzed and classified, highlighting the criticality of the AXI Interconnect IP Core as a point of failure, especially for SEU-hardened hardware accelerator relying on mitigation techniques based on fine-grained and coarse-grained replication.

In-Circuit Mitigation Approach of Single Event Transients for 45nm Flip-Flops

Abstract: Nowadays, radiation-induced Single Event Transients are a leading cause of critical errors in CMOS nanometric integrated circuits. In this work, we propose a workflow for analyzing and mitigating nanometric CMOS integrated circuits to radiation-induced transient errors. The analysis phase starts with the developed Rad-Ray tool for mimicking the passage of the radiation particles through the silicon matter of the cells to identify the features of the generated transient pulses. The tool is integrated with an electrical simulator to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the transient pulses inserted and propagated in the circuit. A tunable mitigation solution is proposed by inserting the filtering block before the storage element, tuned based on the duration and amplitude of the expected transient pulse, identified in the analysis phase. Experimental results are achieved by applying the proposed approach on the 45 nm Flip-Flop component available in the FreePDK design kit, comparing the Dynamic Error Rate for the original Flip-Flop and the mitigated one which shows a reduction of sensitivity up to 56% with respect of the original version, with negligible degradation of performances.

Biological properties of extracellular vesicles and their physiological functions

Abstract: In the past decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as potent vehicles of intercellular communication, both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This is due to their capacity to transfer proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, thereby influencing various physiological and pathological functions of both recipient and parent cells. While intensive investigation has targeted the role of EVs in different pathological processes, for example, in cancer and autoimmune diseases, the EV-mediated maintenance of homeostasis and the regulation of physiological functions have remained less explored. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the physiological roles of EVs, which has been written by crowd-sourcing, drawing on the unique EV expertise of academia-based scientists, clinicians and industry based in 27 European countries, the United States and Australia. This review is intended to be of relevance to both researchers already working on EV biology and to newcomers who will encounter this universal cell biological system. Therefore, here we address the molecular contents and functions of EVs in various tissues and body fluids from cell systems to organs. We also review the physiological mechanisms of EVs in bacteria, lower eukaryotes and plants to highlight the functional uniformity of this emerging communication system.

Extracellular vesicles: biology and emerging therapeutic opportunities

Abstract: Within the past decade, extracellular vesicles have emerged as important mediators of intercellular communication, being involved in the transmission of biological signals between cells in both prokaryotes and higher eukaryotes to regulate a diverse range of biological processes. In addition, pathophysiological roles for extracellular vesicles are beginning to be recognized in diseases including cancer, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative disorders, highlighting potential novel targets for therapeutic intervention. Moreover, both unmodified and engineered extracellular vesicles are likely to have applications in macromolecular drug delivery. Here, we review recent progress in understanding extracellular vesicle biology and the role of extracellular vesicles in disease, discuss emerging therapeutic opportunities and consider the associated challenges.

Atheroprotective communication between endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells through miRNAs.

Abstract: The shear-responsive transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) is a critical regulator of endothelial gene expression patterns induced by atheroprotective flow. As microRNAs (miRNAs) post-transcriptionally control gene expression in many pathogenic and physiological processes, we investigated the regulation of miRNAs by KLF2 in endothelial cells. KLF2 binds to the promoter and induces a significant upregulation of the miR-143/145 cluster. Interestingly, miR-143/145 has been shown to control smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotypes; therefore, we investigated the possibility of transport of these miRNAs between endothelial cells and SMCs. Indeed, extracellular vesicles secreted by KLF2-transduced or shear-stress-stimulated HUVECs are enriched in miR-143/145 and control target gene expression in co-cultured SMCs. Extracellular vesicles derived from KLF2-expressing endothelial cells also reduced atherosclerotic lesion formation in the aorta of ApoE(-/-) mice. Combined, our results show that atheroprotective stimuli induce communication between endothelial cells and SMCs through an miRNA- and extracellular-vesicle-mediated mechanism and that this may comprise a promising strategy to combat atherosclerosis.