Functional Safety
Overview
The rapid growth of technology brings not only many benefits but new risks as well. A system containing electronics or programmable electronics may fail in a way which causes harm to persons or property. How to address the hazards of a technology failure is an important discussion in the technology industry today. Even though it is impossible to guarantee a technological system will never fail, it is possible to reduce the risk of failure and to design systems so that if they do fail, they fail safely. To that end safety standards were created and continue to be updated. IEC 61508 Functional Safety of Electrical /Electronic /Programmable Electronic (E/E/PE) Safety Related Systems is just such a standard.
Diagram of Timeline Reduction for Functional Safety
Microsemi's flash based FPGAs are the ideal hardware platform to implement your safety critical design. The SEU (single event upset) immune FPGA fabric is a great platform to implement the custom functions you require.
Data Package
Microsemi is offering a Functional Safety Data Package for the following families:
IEC61508 certified Functional Safety Data Package
Microsemi Development V-Model for FPGA
The functional safety packet is designed to assist with IEC 61508 certification and includes:
- Information on the relevant devices
- Libero SoC Design Suite v11.5 SP2 certified by TUV
- Libero SoC documentation
- Relevant IP cores and associated documentation
- IEC 61508 Safety Data Manual
The packet is available for purchase using the ordering code SAFETY-PKG-G3
After the order is processed you will be sent an email with the password for the functional safety packet to be downloaded from this site and includes a 20 year node-locked license for use with the Libero SoC v11.5 SP2.
Introduction to Microsemi Functional Safety Data Package
Microsemi is committed to providing customers with FPGAs which can be successfully used in critical safety designs. New technology brings new ways for a system containing electronics or programmable electronics to fail. Failures can cause harm to people and property. Even though it is impossible to guarantee a technological system will never fail, it is possible to reduce the risk of failure and to design systems so that if they do fail, they fail safely. To that end functional safety standards were created and continue to evolve. IEC 61508 Functional Safety of Electrical /Electronic /Programmable Electronic (E/E/PE) Safety Related Systems is a standard created for industrial applications and is meant to be the basis for function safety in all industries. To assure Microsemi devices can be used successfully by our customers for safety critical functions, Microsemi is working with TUV-Rheinland in Cologne Germany to assure the Microsemi SOC FPGA development environment is compliant with IEC 61508.
This document, the Microsemi FPGA Functional Safety User Manual explains how to use Libero SoC v11.5 SP2 to develop Microsemi's third generation of FPGAs in compliance with IEC 61508:2010 up to safety integrity Level (SIL) 3.
1. Introduction
2. Expected User and Document Overview
3. References
4. Overview of Functional Safety and IEC 61508
5. How to Use Libero SOC v11.5 SP2 in a V-Model Development
Step 1 FPGA Requirement Specification
Step 2 FPGA Architecture
Step 3 Test Planning
Step 4 Logical Module Design
Step 5 Logical Module Integration
Step 6 Synthesis
Step 7 Place and Route
Step 8 Static Timing Analysis
Step 9 Gate-level Simulation - Timed
Step 10 Bitstream Generation
Step 11 Validation Testing
Appendix A: Contact Microsemi
Appendix B: Safety Compliance Checklists
Appendix C: Acronyms
