Safety-Critical and Reliable Embedded Systems

Students will explore the principles and practices of developing embedded systems requiring high levels of safety and reliability, essential for industries like automotive, aerospace, and industrial control. The curriculum delves into international standards, risk assessment methodologies, robust design patterns, and advanced verification strategies crucial for certification.

Course outline

Lectures, virtual labs, and graded assignments — completed in your browser.

01Foundations of Safety-Critical Embedded Systemslecture

02IEC 61508: The Umbrella Functional Safety Standardlecture

03ISO 26262: Automotive Functional Safety Standardlecture

04Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessmentlecture

05Safety Integrity Levels (SIL/ASIL) Determinationlecture

06FMEA and Fault Tree Analysis for System Safetylecture

07Redundant Hardware Architectures for Reliabilitylecture

08Software Safety Mechanisms: Watchdogs and Error Handlinglecture

09MISRA C for Safe and Secure Embedded Softwarelecture

10Software Verification: Testing and Static Analysislecture

11Formal Methods for Safety Assurancelecture

12Certification and Safety Case Developmentlecture

13Documenting Evidence for Safety Certificationlecture

14Advanced Topics and Course Synthesisassignment

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to Safety-Critical Embedded Systems and Lifecycle Concepts
Week 2: Functional Safety Standards: IEC 61508 Overview
Week 3: Automotive Functional Safety: ISO 26262 Part 1-4
Week 4: Hazard and Risk Analysis Techniques: HARA, PHA
Week 5: Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) and Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL)
Week 6: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
Week 7: Hardware Architectures for Safety: Redundancy, Diversity, Diagnostic Coverage
Week 8: Software Architectures for Safety: Watchdog Timers, Error Detection, Exception Handling
Week 9: Secure Coding Practices for Safety: MISRA C Guidelines
Week 10: Software Verification and Validation: Testing, Code Reviews, Static Analysis
Week 11: Introduction to Formal Verification Methods for Safety Properties
Week 12: Certification Processes and Safety Case Development
Week 13: Developing Certification Evidence and Documentation
Week 14: Course Review and Future Trends in Safety-Critical Systems