Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems

Safety-critical devices, whether medical, rail, automotive or industrial are dependent on the correct operation of sophisticated software. Many standards describe how such systems should be designed, built and verified. Developers who previously had to know only how to program devices for their industry must now understand and deploy additional development practices and be prepared to justify their work to external assessors.

The third edition of Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems is about the creation of dependable embedded software. It is written for system designers, implementers and verifiers who are experienced in general embedded software development, but who are now facing the prospect of developing a software-based system for safety-critical applications. In particular, it is aimed at those creating a product that must satisfy one or more of the international standards relating to safety critical applications, including IEC 61508, ISO 26262, EN 50716, UL 4600, ISO 21448, ISO/PAS 8800 or IEC 62304.

This book has evolved from a course text used by QNX for a three-day training module on building embedded software for safety-critical systems. Although it describes open source tools for most applications, it also provides enough information for you to seek out commercial vendors if that’s the route you decide to pursue. All of the techniques described in this book may be further explored through several hundred references to articles that the author has personally found helpful as a professional software developer. Almost all of these references are available for free download.