Software and Firmware Safety
Software and firmware have become the controlling intelligence behind virtually every safety-critical electronic system. From automotive braking systems and aircraft flight controls to nuclear reactor instrumentation and medical devices, software makes the decisions that determine whether these systems operate safely. Unlike hardware, which fails randomly due to physical wear and environmental stress, software fails systematically due to design defects that may remain hidden until specific conditions trigger them. This fundamental difference demands specialized approaches to software safety that go beyond traditional quality assurance methods.
The field of software safety has developed rigorous methodologies and international standards to address these unique challenges. Standards such as IEC 61508-3 provide foundational principles for safety-related software across all industries, while sector-specific standards like DO-178C for aviation, ISO 26262-6 for automotive, and EN 50128 for railways adapt these principles to the particular requirements and hazard profiles of their domains. Understanding these standards and the techniques they require is essential for any engineer developing software that could affect human safety.
This category explores the principles, standards, and practices that ensure software and firmware perform their safety functions correctly throughout their operational lifetime. From requirements specification and architecture design through coding practices, verification, and long-term maintenance, each aspect of the software lifecycle presents opportunities to introduce or eliminate safety-relevant defects. Mastering these disciplines enables engineers to create software that society can trust with life-critical decisions.
Articles
Firmware Security Standards
Protect embedded code through secure boot requirements, firmware authentication, code signing standards, update mechanisms, rollback protection, anti-tampering measures, secure storage, cryptographic implementations, side-channel resistance, debug interface protection, JTAG security, firmware forensics, vulnerability disclosure, security testing requirements, and lifecycle management.
Software Safety Standards (Beyond Medical)
Ensure software reliability across safety-critical industries. Coverage includes IEC 61508-3 for safety-critical software, DO-178C for aviation, ISO 26262-6 for automotive, EN 50128 for railway, IEC 62279 for rail, IEC 60880 for nuclear, NASA software standards, defensive programming, formal methods, static analysis requirements, dynamic testing, code coverage requirements, software fault tolerance, version control requirements, and configuration management.
About This Category
Software and Firmware Safety addresses one of the most challenging aspects of modern electronics engineering. While hardware safety can often be demonstrated through testing representative samples and statistical analysis, software safety requires demonstrating the absence of systematic defects across an effectively infinite input space. The standards and techniques covered in this category represent decades of accumulated experience from industries where software failures have caused loss of life, and where rigorous processes have been developed to prevent such failures. Understanding these approaches is essential for any engineer whose software could affect human safety or wellbeing.