FEATURE SAFETY IN ENGINEERING
Functional safety for a digital world T
Stewart Robinson MIET MInstMC, principal engineer and functional safety expert at TÜV SÜD, looks at the standardisation of industrial safety regulations
he tradition of functional safety dates back to the 1970s, when an
uncontrolled reaction from over-heating caused a major dioxin leak at a chemical plant in Italy. This event led to stricter industrial safety regulations, which formed the basis for international standards to protect people, property and the environment against technology- related risk. As new applications develop and become
increasingly interconnected, the landscape of standardisation is changing. The increasing connectivity of systems and plants, plus the growing possibilities of remote control, require suitable approaches to protect systems against unauthorised access and safety-relevant manipulation of the safety functions embedded within hardware and software. The main requirement for complex
semiconductors, that are used in functionally safe embedded systems, is a high degree of miniaturisation with the goal of reducing area and cost. Furthermore, modern design requires compatibility, reusability and embedded safety features. The challenges in this domain are short innovation cycles, a high degree of design complexity and increasing integration density. These aspects have a massive impact
on the assessment of device functional safety, especially as new fault models caused by new technologies must be considered. This is particularly the case for Systems-on-Chip (SoC), where dependent faults have to be evaluated, and already known failure modes, such as transient failures, take on increased relevance in the context of integration of smaller structures. In addition, adequate verification
approaches, which show the effectiveness of safety measures, must be developed. Due to massively increasing system complexity, a high-quality development and lifecycle process is therefore required to ensure a low level of systematic faults. The assessment of design and
manufacturing processes is another key factor in avoiding the consequences of systematic faults. Those using semiconductor components therefore need informative and complete documentation, in order to realise a safe and straightforward system design. This means that great care must be taken
16 OCTOBER 2019 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
when generating the user documentation, with respect to completeness of system integration. Consequently, the generic normative requirements should be interpreted and extended, based on the current state-of-the-art and the specific technology being considered.
PEOPLE POWER Despite great technological advances, it is ultimately organisations and people that have the responsibility of realising functionally safe products and systems. Implementation of the many different requirements of functional safety thus requires a management framework, which regulates the processes and organisation of the activities to be performed. Functional safety management is
therefore a key element of relevant functional safety standards. This includes the definition of the roles and tasks of the individuals involved, proof of their competence, and the qualification measures necessary to ensure up-to-date knowledge. Further elements that must be defined
within the scope of the safety life cycle include both the type and scope of the required documentation and quality assurance. This spans the preparation of documented procedures, work instructions and checklists, as well as official signature authorisations. Recording of field experience must also be regulated, as must modification and configuration management. Functional safety management should
also have numerous interfaces with the higher-level quality management system, which is typically in place within an organisation, which must therefore be given special attention. It has also proved good practice to define
the responsibilities of the individual parties clearly and early on in the quotation phase. This is because functional safety is not solely the responsibility of the component or system supplier alone, but also that of the future owner of these systems.
LIFE CYCLE APPROACH Growing digitalisation and automation across all areas of life and industry not only increases the significance of functional safety and industrial IT security, it also offers economic opportunities. Safe
product design, early prevention of conformity-related problems, fewer product recalls, and shorter time to market are just some examples. Manufacturers and owners can therefore exploit these opportunities by establishing a systematic process focus. This should include consideration of the entire system life cycle, at an early stage - ideally in the development phase. To mitigate against systematic faults,
the effectiveness of safety and security measures must also be fully verified. This will confirm the robustness of components, as well as the complete life cycle, and the development process must also be considered during such an assessment. A holistic approach to functional safety
is therefore required, which requires expertise in various application fields across all project phases, from design and development to manufacturing and installation, testing, certification, placing into service, and decommissioning. Given this complexity, testing and certification organisations need to provide holistic services, which offer system owners and manufacturers one-stop multi-disciplinary support.
TÜV SÜD
tuv-sud.co.uk
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