This paper describes an example new product development process designed to meet requirements of IEC 61508:2010 [1], the Basic Safety Standard for Functional Safety with a Systematic Capability Level 3 (SC 3). The example was done in the context of a microcomputer-based product which includes hardware and software done with a Full Variability Language (FVL) like C, C++, etc. This development process is meant to provide an example of well accepted design procedures used to create quality designs. Requirements of IEC 61508 and most functional safety standards were written to achieve this high-quality goal.
These design procedures have been shown to be quite effective in reducing design faults as they are based on the principles of established quality systems [2] and software engineering [3,4]. Therefore, many companies follow a similar development process for all development work, not just devices that used in critical / safety systems. A similar development process (or equivalent) can achieve Functional Safety Certification [5].
We believe that most of the tasks shown in this example are already well known to those who have created a quality development process. But perhaps there are good ideas to be added that members of various functional safety standard teams have contributed to our current functional safety standards.