PRODUCTS & SERVICES
ISO 26262 compliance
Taking advantage of complex regulation can guarantee high standards of functional
safety for EV electronics and software, as well as simplifying system safety certification
Engineering, quality, and sales
departments in every
organization all have di erent
objectives that can often cause
conflict. Whether it’s the importance
of delivery of products to meet
budget, the importance on quality,
or the need for innovation – the
complex ISO 26262 standard
presents a solution to resolve this
eternal power struggle. However,
in order to make it e ective, it is
necessary that all parties must
acknowledge the importance of
the standard and work as a team.
ISO 26262 was defined in 2011
by the International Standards
Organization (ISO) as an
international standard for the
functional safety of electrical and/or
electronic systems in the automotive
sector. This is an adaptation of the
IEC 61508 functional safety standard
and arrived just in time for the rapid
development and adoption of
electronics and software in electric,
hybrid and self-driving vehicles.
It is a risk-based safety standard,
where the main objective is to
assess risks and define measures
to mitigate the e ects to avoid or
control catastrophic failures. Recent
IT integration in all technological
sectors and complex computerbased
control systems for vehicles
comes at the cost of a higher
possibility of errors in extended
algorithms used for software.
With this in mind, the presence
of such a higher risk in a critical
subsystem could be suppressed
under the compliance of ISO 26262,
thus resulting in foolproof safety.
ISO 26262 has a Product Life
cycle Management (PLM) approach
that starts from product
conceptualization through to design,
development, operation, service,
and decommission at end of life.
Specific to automotive systems
and regarding passenger and driver
A process using ISO 26262/IEC 61508 hardware and software guidelines can prevent dangerous system faults
safety, the standard has four
Automotive Safety Integrity Levels
(ASILs) – A, B, C, and D. The
process of ASIL assessment starts
from the product development and
looks at the fundamental question
of what will happen to the
occupants of a vehicle, and other
road users, if a failure occurs.
The risk evaluation to mitigate
the failure is based on a combination
of the probability of exposure, the
controllability by a driver, and the
possible severity (ASIL criteria) if
a critical event occurs.
The answer to this evaluation
determines the ASIL level. For
instance, level D involves the most
safety critical processes and
requires most severe testing. As
a result, all hardware and software
184 // January 2020 // www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
must be compliant with ISO 26262
and needs to be qualified through
extensive testing.
The testing phase is
comprehensive and an arduous
process, but the outcome far
outweighs the costs of the time
spent extensively to accomplish the
goal. In addition, a failure found in
the field can be ten-times more
expensive to go back and rectify,
than one found during the
development stage.
Although many issues can be
resolved or mitigated by using
pre-qualified modules where
applicable, however, it must be
accompanied by the documentation
and a supplier that can support the
criteria to get through the
qualification process.
EDN Group is committed to
design and develop a rigid process,
using an ISO 26262/IEC 61508
hardware, and software
development guidelines to support
detection and prevention of
dangerous failures resulting from
systematic or random hardware
faults. This is supported by design
resources to help solve the most
complex safety design challenges.
ISO 26262 provides a set of
common rules that engineers, sales,
and quality teams can all adhere
with less subjectivity and more
confidence in the final product’s
quality and safety.
FREE READER INQUIRY SERVICE
To learn more about EDN Group,
visit: www.magupdate.co.uk/PEHV
/www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
/PEHV