When Lives Are at Stake, You Need Experts to Develop Your Safety Critical Embedded Software

A patient is hooked up to medical sensors while being monitored at home, with real-time data being monitored by systems at a nearby hospital and ready to alert a nurse or doctor at a moment’s notice. A family’s car is about to transmit details of its GPS coordinates, speed, and heading right after being struck by a huge truck whose driver had a seizure. Fire and smoke alarms are the first line of defense in a factory that is operating on a skeleton crew over the holidays. These are just a few examples of safety-critical embedded software being used to help people cope with life and death situations.

As embedded software becomes more ubiquitous and complex, an increasing number of embedded systems are becoming safety-critical as well, which essentially means that if they fail or develop a glitch, people can die.

Of course, that means that managers and engineers who are tasked with hiring embedded software developers to work on a new project have an obligation to find experts with a reputation in the industry for being ethical and reliable. What’s more, developers they consider for outsourcing this work must be rigorous in their quality control processes, with a proven track record when it comes to the design, building, and testing of mission critical embedded software.

Understanding the Challenges of Developing Safety Critical Embedded Software

Safeguarding human life in terms of embedded software systems involves a great deal of complexity, starting with developers brainstorming with stakeholders, and then creating and testing the code in question.

Developers may need to consult with outside experts to determine all applicable safety requirements.

It is always wise to research a similar product in a related industry or category, as noted an article at Embedded. It described a 16-phase safety lifecycle including periods of analysis, design, and implementation, and then operation and maintenance. Standards for this lifecycle are maintained by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and they underscore the sheer amount of time and effort involved in any safety-critical embedded system development process. Even the most expert of developers must also do research to ensure they have full awareness of all applicable and evolving industry and governmental standards.

Of paramount importance is ongoing monitoring of the project for quality control. This means that rigorous auditing is crucial when it comes developing safety-critical embedded systems. Consider that “compliance with safety-related standards enables developers of safety-critical applications to demonstrate that they use consistent, auditable processes for designing safety-related systems,” as noted in a recent Ansys article. It went on to state that, “There are a number of these standards that apply to different industry segments, for example DO-178C for aeronautics, ISO 26262 for automotive, and IEC 62304 for medical.”

Working from established standards that are overseen by international observers and experts helps embedded software and Internet of Things developers to stay on track, keeping human safety at the top of their priorities list.

Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have been relying on one another for indirect assistance, oftentimes anonymously and with no ability to directly reward or show their appreciation to the talented individuals among them. Having the opportunity to develop software for safety critical systems brings application creators into the ranks of those who help protect the rest of us from the complex dangers of modern life. To that end, the team at Software Design Solutions maintains a full time staff of embedded systems programming experts with experience in consulting on and building software for a wide variety of safety-critical embedded systems.