Fault Detection in the Control-and Data-Path of Neural Networks

Machine learning and neural networks experience growing usage in resource-constrained devices. However, moving neural networks to small devices also brings new requirements regarding the reliability and security of the networks and their hardware. In many areas, such as autonomous driving, the device must detect possible errors during execution to ensure safe functionality. Moreover, an adversary can gain physical access to the device, opening the door for hardware attacks like fault injections that target misclassification or parameter retrieval. This work proposes a fault detection mechanism for software implementations of neural networks running on a microcontroller to increase the reliability and security of the neural network. Our technique uses AN-codes, a type of error- detecting code, to detect errors in calculations within the neural network without any implications on the accuracy of protected networks. In addition, signature checking ensures the integrity of the control flow. Simulations and real-world testing show that our mechanism successfully detects faults in all possible locations in the neural network’s program code. Despite the robustness of our fault detection mechanism, it has an overhead in code size of only about 10%, independent of the implemented network.The memory usage increases by at most 232 bytes independently of the neural network size, ensuring that the mechanism is not overly burdensome for the memory.      «

Machine learning and neural networks experience growing usage in resource-constrained devices. However, moving neural networks to small devices also brings new requirements regarding the reliability and security of the networks and their hardware. In many areas, such as autonomous driving, the device must detect possible errors during execution to ensure safe functionality. Moreover, an adversary can gain physical access to the device, opening the door for hardware attacks like fault injections...     »