• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Electrical Engineering News and Products

Electronics Engineering Resources, Articles, Forums, Tear Down Videos and Technical Electronics How-To's

  • Products / Components
    • Analog ICs
    • Connectors
    • Microcontrollers
    • Power Electronics
    • Sensors
    • Test and Measurement
    • Wire / Cable
  • Applications
    • Automotive/Transportation
    • Industrial
    • IoT
    • Medical
    • Telecommunications
    • Wearables
    • Wireless
  • Resources
    • DesignFast
    • Digital Issues
    • Engineering Week
    • Oscilloscope Product Finder
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • White Papers
    • Women in Engineering
  • Videos
    • Teschler’s Teardown Videos
    • EE Videos and Interviews
  • Learning Center
    • EE Classrooms
    • Design Guides
      • WiFi & the IOT Design Guide
      • Microcontrollers Design Guide
      • State of the Art Inductors Design Guide
    • FAQs
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • 5G

Embedded basics Part 2: ISO 26262 functional safety for MCUs

January 28, 2020 By Majeed Kamran

Functional safety, a critical requirement in automotive applications, addresses catastrophic failures from data corruption by attaining Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASILs) as per ISO 26262 standard.

Contrary to the common perception that only large and powerful system-on-chips (SoCs) incorporate functional safety built around the ISO 26262 standard, MCUs for the next-generation car architectures are increasingly integrating functional safety capabilities. They are part of new software- and data-oriented architectures and deliver real-time performance mandated by domain controllers in drivetrain, chassis, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Microcontrollers can run embedded software solutions to address ISO 26262 requirements for road vehicles by incorporating CPUs with lockstep mechanism and large non-volatile memory capacity divided into multiple partitions for deterministic real-time computing. Another feature that enables MCU to facilitate functional safety features is virtualization, which helps run multiple software components on a single MCU without interfering with each other.

Figure 1: This is how functional safety is implemented in automotive designs. (Image: Cypress Semiconductor)

Below is a brief description of the features and capabilities that enable MCUs to offer functional safety.

CPU lockstep

The lockstep mode provides an environment for redundant processing and calculations to facilitate functional safety diagnostics. Microcontrollers with multiple cores offer lockstep capabilities to provide acceleration for functional safety features like self-diagnostic fault detection.

The integration of multiple ECUs on a single MCU to support multiple functions is leading to multi-core MCU configurations. These multi-core MCUs provide application-specific acceleration as well as facilitate lockstep capabilities.

Figure 2: A view of a dual-core device offering lockstep for diagnostic coverage. (Image: Arm)

Non-volatile memory

Likewise, ample on-chip non-volatile memory frees MCUs from delays of non-integrated memories and helps ensure precise and deterministic control for real-time applications like motor control.

Abundant memory content facilitates instant access to safety-critical operations such as hybrid powertrain and thus ensures maximum reliability. A robust memory is also critical as it allows frequent data writes and ensures protection against failures resulting from data corruption.

Many MCU suppliers are increasing the flash memory content to accommodate software components with varying safety integrity levels, and thus ensure that they can operate independently. And some MCU vendors are introducing new memory technologies like phase-change memory (PCM).

MCU virtualization

The functional safety-ready MCUs are also employing hardware-based virtualization techniques to boost diagnostic coverage. These MCUs equipped with ample memory content boost real-time responsiveness compared to software-based hypervisors that take more processing time to change between CPU states and deliver interrupts.

Testing and certification

Microcontroller makers are also taking steps to simply testing and diagnostics as well as functional safety certification to optimize the cost of implementing automotive safety features. That allows automotive designers to save time and costs while complying to the ISO 26262 standard.

Some MCUs are even adding the built-in self-test (BIST) functionality for fault detection, and that allows MCUs to perform self-diagnostics while still running. The BIST functionality also enables MCUs to avoid disturbing a CPU processing period; the MCU can perform self-diagnostics in the period between when the MCU enters the standby state and when it resumes action.

 

You may also like:


  • Embedded basics Part 3: Functional safety documentation and terminology

  • Embedded basics Part 1: IEC 61508 functional safety for MCUs
DesignFast Banner version: 23aa529f

Filed Under: FAQ, Featured, Microcontroller Tips Tagged With: FAQ

Primary Sidebar

EE Training Center Classrooms

EE Classrooms

Featured Resources

  • EE World Online Learning Center
  • CUI Devices – CUI Insights Blog
  • EE Classroom: Power Delivery
  • EE Classroom: Building Automation
  • EE Classroom: Aerospace & Defense
  • EE Classroom: Grid Infrastructure
Search Millions of Parts from Thousands of Suppliers.

Search Now!
design fast globle

R&D World Podcasts

R&D 100 Episode 7
See More >

Current Digital Issue

April 2022 Special Edition: Internet of Things Handbook

How to turn off a smart meter the hard way Potential cyber attacks have a lot of people worried thanks to the recent conflict in Ukraine. So it might be appropriate to review what happened when cybersecurity fi rm FireEye’s Mandiant team demonstrated how to infiltrate the network of a North American utility. During this…

Digital Edition Back Issues

Sponsored Content

Positioning in 5G NR – A look at the technology and related test aspects

Radar, NFC, UV Sensors, and Weather Kits are Some of the New RAKwireless Products for IoT

5G Connectors: Enabling the global 5G vision

Control EMI with I-PEX ZenShield™ Connectors

Speed-up time-to-tapeout with the Aprisa digital place-and-route system and Solido Characterization Suite

Siemens Analogue IC Design Simulation Flow

More Sponsored Content >>

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • Series and Shunt S2P file of inductor or capacitor
  • kt/c noise of sample and hold
  • Noise analysis of sample and hold amplifier
  • Correct measurement of process variations
  • 3D FDTD - how do I compute number of variables and required number of iterations?

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • A high-speed ADC which reads upon trigger
  • None existant errors (MPLAB X)
  • software PWM
  • Passthrough charging-simple but impossible to achieve?
  • PCB Photo sensitizing options

Oscilloscopes Product Finder

Footer

EE World Online

EE WORLD ONLINE NETWORK

  • 5G Technology World
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Battery Power Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • DesignFast
  • EDABoard Forums
  • Electro-Tech-Online Forums
  • Engineer's Garage
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire & Cable Tips

EE WORLD ONLINE

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Lee's teardown videos
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About Us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookConnect with us on LinkedIn Follow us on YouTube Add us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy