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Using an IEC 61508-Certified RTOS Kernel for Safety-Critical Systems




September 2010
7 pages
Using an IEC 61508-Certified RTOS Kernel for Safety-Critical Systems

This whitepaper presents the characteristics of a safe kernel,and briefly describes the QNX® Neutrino® RTOS Safe Kernel, which has been certified to conform to IEC 61508 at Safety Integrity Level 3. The paper then describes some important support requirements for developing applications with safe kernels: a comprehensive tool suite, documentation and training.

Contents

Introduction — The Concepts Behind IEC 61508 — Characteristics of a Safe Kernel — Design Safe State — Isolation — Scheduling Predictability — Protection — RTOS Architectures — Development Support — Documentation — Training — Conclusion [+]





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Author
Chris Hobbs
chobbs@qnx.com

Chris Hobbs

Chris Hobbs is a kernel developer at QNX, specializing in "sufficiently-available" software: software created with the minimum development effort to meet the availability and reliability needs of the customer; and in producing safe software (in conformance with IEC61508 SIL3). He is also a specialist in WBEM/CIM device, network and service management, and the author of A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM Management (2004).

In addition to his software development work, Chris is a flying instructor, a singer with a particular interest in Schubert's Lieder, and the author of several books, including Learning to Fly in Canada (2000) and The Largest Number Smaller than Five (2007). His blog, Software Musings, focuses "primarily on software and analytical philosophy".

Chris Hobbs earned a B.Sc., Honours in Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Philosophy at the University of London's Queen Mary and Westfield College.

See Also...

Fault Tree Analysis with Bayesian Belief Networks for Safety-Critical Software

Protecting Applications Against Heisenbugs

在安全系统中使用内核通过IEC6

SIL3 認証取得セーフカーネル

Building Functional Safety into Complex Software Systems, Part I

Building Functional Safety into Complex Software Systems, Part II


Other whitepaper topics: Recent, Automotive, German Whitepapers, HMI + Graphics, Industrial, Medical, Multimedia + Acoustics, Networking, Operating Systems, Security + Defense, Safe Systems, Tools