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Failure Resistant Systems (NSF Publication 12-556) - FAQs

What is the Failure Resistant Systems opportunity (NSF Publication 12-556)?

Failure Resistant Systems (NSF Publication 12-556) is a joint research program from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). It focuses on creating fundamentally new ways to design electronic circuits and computing systems that continue to operate correctly even when faults or failures occur.

What problem is this program trying to solve?

The program targets the growing reliability challenge in modern hardware. As chips shrink and systems become more complex, hardware is increasingly exposed to transient faults (temporary upsets), permanent faults (hard failures), and systematic failures (repeatable design- or process-related issues). Traditional approaches to reliability are becoming too costly or inefficient under these trends.

What kinds of failures does the solicitation emphasize?

The opportunity highlights three broad categories: transient faults, permanent faults, and systematic failures. It also emphasizes related real-world contributors such as manufacturing variation, aging-related degradation, and uncertainty in how integrated components behave under non-ideal conditions.

Why does reliability get harder as technology scales and systems integrate more components?

The solicitation explains that miniaturization and fabrication advances increase fault rates, variation, and degradation from aging effects. In addition, systems often integrate third-party IP blocks from different vendors, making behavior harder to predict under stress, temperature extremes, radiation, wear-out, or other adverse conditions. The program frames this as a need to anticipate uncertainty rather than assume failures are rare exceptions.

What is meant by a "cross-layer" approach in this program?

A cross-layer approach distributes reliability responsibilities across multiple layers of the computing stack rather than relying on a single layer. The solicitation explicitly references interactions spanning devices, circuits, architectures, systems software, and applications, and it notes that both digital and analog components are in scope.

Why does the program discourage relying only on traditional reliability techniques?

The opportunity argues that common techniques (such as conservative voltage and clock margins, replication, or disk-based checkpointing) can be effective but often impose large power, performance, and cost penalties. It also notes that when techniques operate at only one layer, they typically must assume worst-case behavior elsewhere, which can lead to overdesign and inefficiency.

What kinds of research directions is the solicitation aiming to support?

The solicitation is aimed at research that develops cross-layer, system-level methods to tolerate errors, variation, aging, and degradation in a targeted and adaptable way. The vision is that different failure mechanisms should be handled at the most efficient layer of the stack and that strategies should adapt to changing hardware state, operating environments, and the needs of specific applications.

Does the program focus only on large computing systems, or also on embedded systems?

Both. The solicitation frames reliability as an industry-wide challenge spanning large-scale information processing platforms used for communication and computation as well as small embedded systems used in medical devices and automotive electronics, where dependable operation can be safety-critical.

How does the solicitation view application-level knowledge in reliability design?

It emphasizes using information available at each layer, including application-level knowledge about what errors matter and which can be tolerated or corrected. This is presented as a way to achieve high reliability with lower overhead than one-size-fits-all methods.

What is the expected impact of successful research under this program?

The solicitation anticipates that foundational advances in failure-resilient design could improve competitiveness across multiple industries, reshape product categories, and accelerate translation of academic results into practical technologies used in real systems.

Which agencies or organizations are associated with this opportunity?

This is a joint research program from NSF and SRC, with NSF listed as the agency on the opportunity announcement. The additional information link referenced NSF Publication 12-556.

What is the grant category for this opportunity?

The opportunity is described as a discretionary grant program in the Science and Technology / R&D category.

How much total funding was anticipated for the program?

NSF anticipated an estimated total program funding amount of $6,000,000.

How many awards did NSF anticipate making?

NSF anticipated making about 20 awards.

What was the expected award size range?

Individual awards were expected to fall between $300,000 (floor) and $400,000 (ceiling).

Was cost sharing or matching required?

No. The opportunity stated there was no cost sharing or matching requirement.

When was the opportunity posted, and what were the proposal dates?

The opportunity was posted on April 24, 2012. Full proposals were due July 26, 2012. The opportunity was archived on August 26, 2012.

Which CFDA listings were associated with this program?

The CFDA listings associated with the program were 47.041 (Engineering Grants) and 47.070 (Computer and Information Science and Engineering). This reflects that proposals could span both engineering and computing research themes.

Who was eligible to apply?

Eligibility was limited to US academic institutions: accredited universities and colleges (including two- and four-year institutions and community colleges) with a campus located in the United States, applying on behalf of their faculty members.

Could non-academic organizations apply directly under the stated eligibility?

Based on the eligibility description provided, the solicitation limited eligibility to US academic institutions submitting on behalf of faculty members.

Where could applicants find the official solicitation reference?

The notice referenced NSF Publication 12-556 as the additional information link for the opportunity.

Who should applicants contact for Grants.gov access issues related to the announcement?

For access issues related to the announcement through Grants.gov, the notice directed applicants to NSF Grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.