Industrial Safety Self-Test Library

IEC 61508 is an international standard for functional safety of Electrical, Electronic, and Programmable Electronic (E/E/PE) systems. It defines functional safety as part of the overall safety relating to an Equipment Under Control (EUC) or a system. The EUC can be as simple as a switch or as complex as a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). IEC 61508 encompasses four different Safety Integrity Levels (SILs), with SIL 1 being the lowest level and SIL 3 the highest level of safety in E/E/PE systems.

We offer two different solutions for a Self-Test Library (STL) for our 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs.)

1. Our first solution is a third-party STL that was developed by embeX GmbH. It supports SIL 2 for a single MCU system and SIL 3 for adding diversity/redundancy to a dual-channel system. This solution supports all our Arm^® Cortex^®-M0+ based devices.
2. Our second solution is an STL that is based on our ISO 26262 development ecosystem and has been recertified for IEC 61508 applications.

The third-party SIL 2/3 STL provides the following advantages:

• Application independent for use in simple or complex designs
• Certification by TÜV Rhineland, a recognized certification body
• Object code optimized for IAR Systems
• Software-based library to detect random hardware failures in the Arm Cortex-M0+ core, Flash memory and SRAM
• Diagnostic tests that are executed at start up and at runtime
• Fault insertion tests to verify operation of the self-test diagnostic routines
• Thoroughly tested diagnostic functions based on device architecture with features to reduce development time
• Reduced time and costs in certifying the end system/application

These elements are tested by the STL with a Diagnostic Coverage (DC) of ≥ 90%:

• Program memory (ROM)
• Data memory (RAM)
• RAM address lines
• Stack
• Core register
• Operation codes
• Special Function Register (SFR)

The third-party SIL 2/3 STL is available as an evaluation license with a development kit or as a full production license for the SAM D21 and SAM L21 safety-enabled devices. These devices have a “-SLL” suffix at the end of the part number, for example: ATSAMD21J18A-AU-SLL. Please use the links in the Need Some Help section at the bottom of this page to request additional information. 

Our SIL 2 STL solution is available on our MPLAB^® Harmony Plus-enabled devices. These devices have unique Catalog Part Numbers (CPNs) and include a licensing agreement and a complete set of safety collateral. 

For example, if you would like to use the ATSAME70J20A-AN device in a functional safety application, you would purchase the ATSAME70J20A-AN-SL3, which includes the following collateral:

• SIL 2-compliant diagnostic code
• FMEDA
• Functional Safety Manual (FSM)
• User’s guide
• Soft error rate report
• DFMEA
• Pin FMEA
• Dependent failure analysis
• Certifications including SIL 2 Diagnostic Code Certification

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is required for the safety collateral, however, the  certifications listed above do not require an NDA. Please use the links in the Need Some Help section lower down on this page to request more information about these products and the NDA process.

Our comprehensive portfolio of 32-bit MCUs provides a wide variety of features for many industrial safety applications. 

¹Please use the Need Some Help section below to request additional information.

Notes:

1. This table will be updated as additional information becomes available
2. In addition to safety collateral noted above, we will offer a safety case for our 32-bit MCUs that will be available under NDA
3. Our IEC 61508 SIL 2 STL solution is based on our ISO 26262 diagnostic code that has been recertified to the IEC 61508 standard
4. Although Core Diagnostics and Peripheral Diagnostics are listed separately in this table, they are delivered as one diagnostic library

For many functional safety applications, redundancy or a dual-channel solution can be created for implementing a higher safety level for SIL 3. For example, two MCUs using the SIL 2 STL can be used to achieve SIL 3 in an overall system.

When you are designing functional safety applications, using development tools that meet the requirements of safety standards can make it easier for you to create compliant systems. To help you with implementing system-level functional safety in your applications, our MPLAB XC C compilers are TÜV SÜD-certified for several functional safety standards. We also provide the complete certification packages for our MPLAB development tools ecosystem to help you qualify your projects.

Note the devices with a “-SLL” suffix support our third-party STL solution from embeX GmbH, and devices with a “-SL3” suffix support our STL solution for industrial safety.