Functional Safety
Building applications with ensured functional safety can be both challenging and time consuming. We are here to guide you.
Our solutions are certified according to ten different standards for functional safety. Combined with our dedicated team and long-term safety support services, we are ready to help you succeed with your next safety-critical application.
Functional safety in embedded systems
In short, functional safety is about protecting users of a product or system from harm. It’s part of the overall safety of a system that depends on automatic protection operating correctly in response to its inputs or failure in a predictable manner.
With growing complexity in embedded systems, functional safety is becoming more and more important.
To be able to build applications with ensured functional safety, you often need to provide extensive documentation for selecting a particular toolchain and to prove that you are compliant with specific requirements in your sector.
By choosing a pre-certified solution, you will save both time and cost which enables you to focus more on your code and the features of the application.
Certified by TÜV SÜD – What does it mean?
The functional safety editions of our tools are certified by the safety-accredited certification body, TÜV SÜD, as qualified for development of safety-related applications according to the mentioned standards.
By selecting IAR Embedded Workbench, functional safety edition, as a development tool, you do not have to evaluate the tool development process yourself and also not demonstrate language standards compliance by your own testing. This has already been taken care of by TÜV SÜD. The same applies to the functional safety editions of IAR Build Tools.
The certification was proceeded by a thorough assessment of how IAR Systems develop, test and support its software.
Broad coverage of standards
To suit different application needs, we provide functional safety tool editions for a number of different architectures.
Details of the standards
IEC 61508
IEC 61508 is the international umbrella standard for functional safety. The standard, and standards derived from it, is used within all kinds of industries with requirements on reliability and safety, for example process industries, the oil and gas industry, nuclear power plants, machinery, and railway control systems.
ISO 26262
ISO 26262 is used for automotive safety-related systems. The standard applies to electrical and electronic systems consisting of hardware and software components in vehicles. The ISO 26262 standard ensures that sufficient levels of safety are being met and maintained throughout a vehicle's lifecycle.
EN 50128 and EN 50657
EN 50128 and EN 50657 are European standards for safety related software in railway applications. The standards are derived from IEC 61508.
IEC 62304
The international standard IEC 62304 is a standard which specifies life cycle requirements for the development of medical software and software within medical devices.
ISO 25119
Safety requirements for tractors and machinery for agriculture and forestry. The standard is a sector-specific implementation of IEC 61508. According to ISO 25119-3 "tools and translators which are proven in use shall be applied, in order to avoid any difficulties due to translator failures which can arise during development”.
IEC 62061
Sector-specific (safety-related electrical control systems on machinery) standard derived from IEC 61508. It specifies the requirements for the design, integration, and validation of Safety Related Electrical Control Systems for machinery applications.
EN ISO 13849-1
A safety standard for machines (like IEC 62061) and focuses on electrical, electro-mechanical and mechanical (hydraulics) parts. It provides safety requirements for the principal design and integration of safety-related parts of control systems (SRP/CS), including the design of software.
IEC 61511-1
A sector-specific standard (process industry) derived from IEC 61508. The software requirements of this standard are limited to application software developed using FPL (fixed program language) or LVL (limited variability language).
IEC 60730-1
This standard applies to automatic electrical controls for use in, on, or in association with equipment for household and similar use. Requirements related to software are extracted from IEC 61508-3 and adapted to the needs of this standard.
Support and maintenance as long as you need it
Thanks to special Functional Safety Support and Update Agreement (SUA).
To ensure your application stays consistent and safe throughout its life cycle, you need a reliable toolchain. The functional safety editions of IAR Embedded Workbench and IAR Build Tools come with a special Functional Safety Support and Update Agreement (SUA), that gives you guaranteed support for the sold version for the longevity of the agreement.
In addition, the tools are delivered in frozen versions, and are only updated through validated service packs.
To further simplify the validation of your application, each version includes a Functional Safety certificate and a Safety report from TÜV SÜD. Additionally, the included Safety Guide has practical tips for helping you certify your application, from detailing the use of the tools in a functional safety context to libraries and C/C++ programming language recommendations.
For each frozen version, the functional safety certificates get renewed as long as the support and updates agreement with you is active.
Our functional safety products
Development toolchain
Build tools for automated workflows
Code analysis for functional safety
Functional safety solutions with our partners
Thanks to our long-standing presence in the embedded space, we are able to support a number of solutions from several vendors.
AUTOSAR Microcontroller Abstraction Layer (MCAL) support
Our semiconductor partners provide a number of MCAL drivers. Currently, the following MCU devices are supported with MCAL drivers from our semiconductor partners and compatible with IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm.
MICROSAR support
MICROSAR is the AUTOSAR solution for an electronic control unit (ECU) software. MICROSAR consists of the MICROSAR RTE (runtime environment) and MICROSAR basic software modules (BSW). Vector Informatik provides the MICROSAR OS and MICROSAR modules compatible with IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm, for Renesas RH50, Renesas V850, Renesas RL78 and more.
STM8 and STM32 Functional Safety packages support
ST provides a comprehensive set of free-of-charge and certified Functional Safety packages based on the STM8 and STM32 MCUs. The ST functional safety libraries are all compatible, tested and certified to be used with IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm and IAR Embedded Workbench for STM8.
Industrial Automation Solutions for Renesas RX and Renesas RA
Renesas provides the Renesas Functional Safety Solution that offers software technology compliant to IEC61508 SIL certification, a reference hardware board for constructing a functional safety system, a reference document as a guidebook to IEC61508, and all supported by the IAR Systems certified compilers for safe development.
*For details about the combination of Renesas RX family and IAR C/C++ compiler, please contact Renesas.
Functional safety FAQ
Find answers to frequently asked questions about our functional safety offering.
What is the functional safety edition of IAR Embedded Workbench and IAR Build Tools?
The functional safety editions of IAR Embedded Workbench and IAR Build Tools are special product and services packages containing a toolchain certified by TÜV SÜD for software development according to high integrity standards IEC 61508, ISO 26262, EN 50128, EN 50657 and IEC 62304. For Arm and RISC-V, the certification also covers IEC 60730, ISO 13849, IEC 62061, IEC 61511 and ISO 25119. A special support and update agreement gives you support and updates for the frozen version you are using for the longevity of the agreement. The certification is done for a specific version of the tool chain. Not every feature release will be certified.
Why would I buy the certified version of IAR Embedded Workbench and IAR Build Tools?
High-integrity standards today frequently require you to provide extensive justification for selecting a particular development tool, unless the tool is already certified.
What does the certification mean?
It means that the functional safety edition is certified as a qualified tool for development of safety-related applications according to the mentioned standards. By selecting IAR Embedded Workbench or IAR Build Tools Functional safety edition as a development tool, you do not have to evaluate the tool development process yourself and also not demonstrate language standards compliance by your own testing. This has already been taken care of by TÜV SÜD.
The certification was proceeded by a thorough assessment of how IAR Systems develop, test and support its software.
Up to which (A)SIL level is the functional safety edition of IAR Embedded Workbench certified?
The technical certification report from TÜV says:
"The build tool chain of EWNNFS is suitable to be used in safety-related development projects according to ISO 26262:2011 for any ASIL level. The requirements of the "Validation of the software tool in accordance with [ISO26262-8, Chapter] 11.4.9" and "Evaluation of the tool development process in accordance with [ISO26262-8, Chapter] 11.4.8" are fulfilled."
Further it says:
“The build tool chain of EWARMFS classified as T3 off-line tool according to IEC 61508-4:2010, is suitable to be used in safety-related development projects according to IEC 61508:2010 for any SIL level.”
There are no explicit references to any specific (A)SIL levels and this is intentional as tool users should draw their own conclusions for their specific safety functions.
If my particular standard is not covered, can I still benefit from using the certified version?
Yes, many sector specific standards are derived from IEC61508 and thus tools qualification requirements are similar. For some standards additional information might be needed and we are in those cases happy to provide such information on a case-by-case basis. Further, the services in the special Support and Update Agreement (See below) are just as valuable for any project where quality and reliability of the end product is at the forefront.
How does the functional safety edition of the product differ from the standard product?
The functional safety editions are resting on three pillars:
- A specific certified version of IAR Embedded Workbench and IAR Build Tools where no new features will be added. Updates will only consist of corrections of erratical behavior and notifications of issues to be aware of.
- A special Support and Update Agreement; see below for more information.
- Certification documentation, including the certificate and a report to the certificate. The documentation package also includes a Safety Guide detailing the use of the tool chain in a functional safety context.
What's included in the special Functional Safety Support and Update Agreement?
- Support and updates for the specific certified version. This includes specially validated service releases containing only fixes to known issues and information about issues. IAR Systems supports a specific certified version as long as there are users with active support and update agreement on that version.
- Prioritized support
- Extra documentation needed for safety related development:
- Validation of compliance with the statement of standards compliance
- Functional Safety certificate from TÜV SÜD
- Safety report from TÜV SÜD
- Safety guide
Is the special support services included in the price?
Yes, the Functional Safety Support and Update Agreement is included for the first year after purchase.
What features of the tool chain are certified?
The full build tool chain and all of its features are covered by the certification. This include, but is not limited to, features like optimizations, language extensions, intrinsic functions etc. However, safety-related standards often place constraints or require extra justification to use such features. The restrictions or the amount of justification that might be needed differ between standards and the safety integrity level for the project. The usage of such features are covered in the Safety Guide.
Get started with functional safety
We are here to guide you.