Bristol, UK – 12th June 2012 – Wittenstein High Integrity Systems (WHIS), a leading safety systems company, extends SAFERTOS® support for the Texas Instruments (TI) Hercules™ ARM® Cortex™-based safety microcontroller family. Support now extends beyond the TMS470 and TMS570 to include the ARM Cortex™-RM4x family, targeted at safety-critical medical and industrial applications.
SAFERTOS™ is a safety certified micro-kernel that delivers performance and dependability to safety critical applications, whilst utilising minimal resources. The RM48x SAFERTOS variant is tightly integrated with the microcontroller, including its MPU, allowing applications to be partitioned into logical segments according to their Safety Integrity Level (SIL). Commercial grade middleware can for example be used in conjunction with safety critical code, with isolation being achieved via the RM48x MPU.
SAFERTOS is supplied with a Design Assurance Pack which contains every design artifact produced during the full IEC 61508-3 life cycle. These will include development and safety life cycle plans, requirements, specifications and design documents, HAZOPS, source code, all verification and validation documents and related evidence.
“Combining SAFERTOS and the Hercules safety ARM Cortex-RM48x microcontroller results in an embedded platform designed to meet the stringent requirements of IEC 61508 SIL-3,” said Andrew Longhurst, engineering manager for WHIS.“This significantly reduces risk and project schedules in safety-critical developments, freeing engineers to work where they add most value – on the application.”
The Hercules safety ARM Cortex-RM4x microcontroller family provides the highest level of performance in the Hercules family, for broad safety applications, including medical and industrial, and is developed to the IEC 61508 SIL-3 safety standard. The RM48x dual-CPU lockstep architecture simplifies development, while eliminating redundant system requirements to reduce cost. The RM48x also includes a feature-rich set of built-in tests, making it ideal for safety-critical use.
“Fundamental to development with our Hercules Safety ARM Cortex-RM4x microcontrollers is easing development,” said Roy Haley, Hercules safety MCU marketing manager, TI. “SAFERTOS is one way to speed and simplify development on our Hercules devices, and we’re excited to be working with WHIS.”
WHIS provides full support for USB, FAT and TCP/IP for the Hercules ARM Cortex-RM48x safety microcontroller.
SAFERTOS is available pre-certified by TÜV SÜD to IEC 61508-3 SIL-3 and is suitable for use in developments requiring certification to IEC 61508 and domain-specific adaptations, IEC 62304 class C and FDA 510(k) for medical, and DO 178B for aerospace.
SAFERTOS datasheets and a fully functional RM48x SAFERTOS demonstrator, for use with TI Code Composer StudioTM v. 5.0 integrated development environment are available for download at www.highintegritysystems.com.
About WITTENSTEIN High Integrity Systems
Wittenstein is a Global Technology Company headquartered in Harthausen, Germany and has a presence in more than 40 countries with more than 1400 employees worldwide.The Wittenstein High Integrity Systems business unit was launched in the UK in 2008 as part of the Wittenstein Group. Its world-leading expertise in embedded software is based on ten years’ experience working with Industrial Control, Power, Medical and Aerospace applications. High Integrity Systems was formed following the successful launch of FreeRTOS in 2003, and OPENRTOS commercial licensing, which was introduced in 2006. In 2007 SAFERTOS® attained IEC 61508 SIL-3 certification from TÜV SÜD and was later validated to FDA 510(k)/EN 62304 Medical standards.
For more information, please visit www.highintegritysystems.com.
About the Texas Instruments Design Network
WITTENSTEIN High Integrity Systems is a member of the TI Design Network, a premier group of independent, well-established companies that offer products and system-level design and manufacturing services complementing TI’s semiconductors to a worldwide customer base to accelerate product innovation and time-to-market. Network members provide complete product design, hardware and software system integration, turnkey product design, RF and processor system modules, reference platforms, software development, proof-of-concept design, feasibility studies, research, certification compliance, prototyping, manufacturing, and product life cycle management.
For more information about the TI Design Network, please visit www.ti.com/designnetwork.