System and methods for parallel execution and comparison of related processes for fault protection

Abstract

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving detection of program faults. In one embodiment, a method includes executing, in parallel, an extended program and an instrumented program. The instrumented program is an instrumented version of a baseline program that implements runtime checks. The extended program is an extended version of the baseline program with intentional delays inserted into source code of the baseline program to match an execution time with the instrumented program. The method includes supervising execution states of the instrumented program to identify an occurrence of mismatched states between the extended program and the instrumented program. The method includes managing the mismatched states to mitigate effects of the program faults on the functioning of an associated device.