TOKYO. Renesas Electronics Corporation just announced the “RX Functional Safety,” a new solution for industrial applications that reduces the complexity of IEC 61508 SIL3 certification.

Featuring a dual-MCU configuration, RX Functional Safety will support all Renesas MCUs based on the RXv2 core to enable simple safety verification and a highly efficient diagnostics software. With the SIL3-certified software, the solution eliminates the need for users to develop functional safety software dependent on Renesas MCUs and allows them to focus on development of software for their own application components.

When starting on a new functional safety system, developers face a large number of difficult technological problems. To resolve these issues, Renesas has developed a comprehensive, software-based solution combining:

• RX Functional Safety – Self-Test Software Kit: Performs self-diagnostics at the individual MCU level.
  • Self-diagnostics software library
  • Safety manual
  • User guide
• RX Functional Safety – SIL3 System Software Kit: Achieves the world's first SIL3 certification by performing required mutual diagnostics in a dual MCU architecture structure and a function that isolates multiple software applications to implement functional safety.
• Functional safety platform software
• Safety manual
• User guide
• IEC 61508 SIL3 certification documents (certification document, test report)
• Software development handbook
• Configuration tool for generating and evaluating configuration files that set up the functional safety platform software and set user application behavior
• Configuration tool manual
• RX Functional Safety – Reference Hardware: Dual-structure MCU evaluation board using the RX71M and RX651 MCUs, and related technical documentation (manuals, circuit diagrams, parts lists, and other items).
• RX Functional Safety – Reference Documents: Technical documentation to help developers acquire SIL3 certification for their applications.

“The need for functional safety is expanding to an even wider variety of products, driving increased needs for shorter development times and lower costs,” said TÜV Rheinland Japan’s Functional Safety Industrial Service Division Manager, Masataka Nakao. “The Renesas solution that we have now certified provides both the diagnostic functions required in a functional safety MCU and the functions that make it easy to reuse software assets. We expect that the solution will allow both customers new to developing functional safety products, and customers with functional safety experience to improve their development efficiency.”

For more information, please visit https://www.renesas.com/us/en/.