Developing safety-critical applications

Every effort to develop safety-critical systems has to start with a risk analysis based on a comprehensive detailed description of the system. This assessment pinpoints every potential hazard inherent in a product or function, and serves to systematically assess the given risks. It defines the safety requirements for the entire development process and target product. This structured approach is crucial, particularly for complex and distributed systems.

What we do at a glance:

• System description, item definition
• Risk assessment according to ISO 12100 (machine safety)
• Hazard analysis & risk assessment (G&R) according to ISO 26262 (Automotive, FuSa)
• Hazard identification and risk assessment according to ISO 21448 (Automotive, SOTIF)

Engineers extrapolate the safety objectives from this risk analysis. These goals then guide the effort to develop tailormade safety concepts for the functional and technical levels. A safety concept provides an economically viable path for implementing reliable safety mechanisms for the hardware, software, or overall system.

What we do at a glance:

• Derivation of safety objectives and measures
• Development of a functional safety concept
• Development of a technical safety concept, (preliminary) system design

Safety analyses are a must rather than a maybe. They provide a systematic way of identifying failure modes and extrapolating appropriate safety measures. The results of these analyses help systems engineers determine the design of the overall system, its components, and their specifications. We will be delighted to advise you on the depth and breadth of analyses required for your use case. Our experts guide your teams through the process or carry out full safety analyses to your specifications (such as FMEA, FTA, FMEDA, etc.).

What we do at a glance:

• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
• Failure Modes Effects and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA) 
• Dependent Failure Analysis (DFA)

To develop a product to a given safety standard, you will of course have to manage and coordinate safety-related activities. As an engineering partner for functional safety, we are here to help you effectively steer these safety-related activities throughout the product’s lifecycle. Our specialists assess your processes, assist you during development, and get your product’s safety verified in accordance with the given standard (safety case).

What we do at a glance:

• Tailored safety plan
• Development interface agreement (DIA)
• Safety case
• Consultancy on processes and distributed development, process development and support throughout the entire product life cycle

Functional safety activities have to be an integral part of the development process for safety-relevant systems. We will be happy to assess your development processes in accordance with domain-specific safety standards. If you wish, we can present our recommendations for optimizing processes based on this gap analysis or carry out safety audits. If the focus is on the product rather than the development process, we can assess its safety for you as well.

Safety-related development tools and toolchains also have to satisfy the given standards and meet regulations. Let us team up to assess your toolchain or define a development toolchain tailored to your specific use case with these rules in mind. 

What we do at a glance:

• (ASPICE) Gap analysis in relation to the relevant safety standard (e.g.ISO 26262, ISO 13849, ISO 25119)
• Safety audit: assessing your process
• Safety assessment: independent assessment of functional safety for your product
• Definition and monitoring of optimization measures based on audit and assessment results
• Analysis and documentation of tool chain classification
• Definition of tool chains for your safety-related development
• Functional Safety trainings such as „Functional Safety according to ISO 26262 training and certification“, „No reason to fear FuSa“ or „Fault tree analysis“