Mainly been IBM mainframes, AS/400's, VMS clusters, and NonStop systems hitting the multi-decade mark. It could be done for embedded using similar technologies

Mainly been IBM mainframes, AS/400's, VMS clusters, and NonStop systems hitting the multi-decade mark. It could be done for embedded using similar technologies on a smaller scale. Some even have things like lock-step. I've always considered knocking off a fraction of the original NonStop architecture for some embedded chips and boards to get five 9's on the cheap. One bit of inspiration is Galileo mission running 13 years using its 6 1802's with redundant boards. That ended prematurely due to mission saturating it with radiation & slamming it into a planet. A similar setup fabbed on older nodes for their extra reliability might be able to last decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft)#Command_and_Data_Handling_.28CDH.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft)#Command_a... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802 Of course, this link is talking about supporting the software and such. The hardware itself might not need to last several decades. It might be enough to simply design the HW architecture to be portable to whatever process node, link into a cluster, and take over for faulty hardware. In other words, standardize the interface on the HW and then the software. The hardware developers could then keep making the replacements on cheapest processes. However, I'd still recommend older, mature, simple nodes if it's safety-critical because the extra safety can only help & they can often forgo 1+GHz processors anyway. Btw, what you think of a micro version of NonStop's HW/SW on inexpensive, embedded boards?