Technological progress permeates our everyday lives in almost all areas. Of course, functional safety has become an important component in the product development of these technical devices. Wherever technical systems perform safety-critical tasks, the highest safety standards must be guaranteed. Especially in the automotive industry. Functional safety basically has the task of ensuring that a system does not pose a danger to people or the environment, even in the event of errors or failures.
Functional Safety in Product Development: How B&W Reliably Safeguards Your Systems
In automotive technology, where precision and reliability are crucial for the safety of road users, compliance with safety standards is the be-all and end-all.
To comply with the specified safety standards, we rely on a combination of
of software tools and processes. Among other things, we use the SOX program, which we use to perform FMEDA (Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostic Analysis). Our engineers evaluate the individual components and determine precise FIT rates based on the key figures stored in the SOX. In this way, we identify potential risks at an early stage and can achieve functional safety in the early development phases. This comprehensive analysis allows us to objectively assess potential failure risks and develop targeted measures, especially for components that have a single-point failure. If the diagnostic coverage is below 90%, we implement special measures, such as a 100% inspection in production, to ensure that all safety requirements are reliably met.
For the evaluation and analysis of e.g. short circuits on integrated circuits (ICs), we use pin FMEA. This method allows us to comprehensively analyze potential failures and evaluate their impact and impact on functional safety.
In addition, we use the FTA to identify systematic failure opportunities and increase the reliability of the systems. In cooperation with our partners who use the Isograph Reliability Workbench, we integrate new data from FMEDA and adapt the error tree accordingly. These processes have the effect of accurately determining FIT rates and ensuring that even the most demanding safety requirements such as ASIL C and ASIL D are met.
We have already implemented an example of a project of this kind with our partner. Four safety goals were defined and examined – three of these goals had to meet the highest safety requirements according to ASIL D, while one was set for ASIL C. As part of this project, we assessed about 200 component changes that had an impact on functional safety. And all this with a complete circuit with around 700 components. This comprehensive analysis allowed us to optimize the system to meet all prescribed norms and safety standards. B&W can become the reliable partner for your functional safety
Thanks to our experience and successful projects, we are a reliable partner for the development of safe and reliable systems. Whether in medical, automotive or device technology, we offer you individual solutions that are tailored to your requirements for the functional safety of your products. We design your products to be safe and future-oriented, while all applicable norms and standards are reliably implemented. Feel free to contact us to learn more about our services and individual solutions.
