Systems used in many high-reliability commercial aerospace, space, defense, automotive and industrial applications require certification to the IEC 61508 Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 functional safety specification. To reduce the cost of this process and speed time-to-market, Microchip Technology Inc., which continues to certify products and tools to industry security specifications, announced that two additional system-on-chip (SoC) FPGAs and A new IEC 61508 SIL 3 certification package has been added to the FPGA family.
Bruce Weyer, vice president of Microchip's FPGA business unit, said: "Microchip's FPGA family has a broad and long-established position in the industrial market, and our non-volatile FPGA technology has been recognized for its high reliability and security. We have a long history of Our products and tools are consistently certified to IEC 61508 SIL 3 and other safety specifications, greatly facilitating the customer's end-equipment certification process. For those designing high-reliability products for smart grids, automation controllers, process analyzers, and other safety-critical applications For industrial customers, our addition of certifications to the low-power SmartFusion 2 SoC FPGA and IGLOO 2 FPGA is a natural fit."
Microchip's security software packages are built on the SEU-resistant, flash-based FPGA fabric of SmartFusion 2 and IGLOO 2 devices. These FPGAs have been certified by TÜV Rhineland®, an independent security assessment agency. The software delivery package includes Microchip's Libero® SoC Design Suite v11.8 Service Pack 4 certification and associated development tools, as well as 28 intellectual property (IP) cores, safety manuals, documentation and device data sheets. Safety certificates from TÜV Rheinland are also included.
Microchip also helps protect customers' long-term certification investments by implementing a customer-driven product discontinuation mechanism. Microchip commits to manufacture the device used in the certification system whenever the customer wants to order it, and Microchip has access to all sub-components of the required device. This increases customer confidence that recertification is not required, while also reducing the risk of parts accidentally entering obsolescence and being forced to redesign or change tooling processes.
