LDRA offers one-stop certification services for safety-critical industrial products

embedded world 2012, NÜRNBERG, GERMANY: LDRA, the leader in standards compliance, automated software verification, source code analysis and test tools, has created a certification services division that helps companies achieve compliance with IEC 61508 - Industrial Safety certification.

Led by industry certification experts, LDRA Certification Services (LCS) assists engineering teams in creating, automating and following a process through to regulatory approval. The synergistic integration of the LDRA tools and the LCS expert IEC 61508 services make up the LCS solution.

IEC 61508 governs a broad range of electric, electronic, and programmable electronic (E/E/PE) safety equipment, whether for controlling life-support systems in tough environments like submarines, or monitoring equipment performance or noxious gas levels in industrial plants. While the standard has always required risk assessment and safety analysis, the 2010 revision to IEC 61508 now requires bidirectional traceability, greatly increasing the regulatory burden on project managers.

While LDRA’s tool suite tracks and automates the links between requirements, code, and tests, the mandate extends beyond software and represents a new discipline for many development teams. Missteps in interpreting the standard can result in compliance failure, leading to cost overruns and product delays.

The strength of the LCS solution is reinforced by a team of renowned industry experts with experience in hundreds of certifications. Leading the LCS team is Todd R. White, a systems and equipment FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER) with Level A authority on all aircraft systems and equipment for both software and airborne electronic hardware according to DO-254.

White, whose expertise extends into industrial electronic systems and standards, including IEC 61508, is flanked by Dr. Holly Hildreth, a safety engineer with expertise in a wide range of international standards. Dr. Hildreth provides certification expertise in IEC 61508 and related safety disciplines, including complete safety analysis from system-level Preliminary Hazard List, Preliminary Hazard Analysis and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) to software FTA/Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA).

These analyses of safety requirements, design, code and test are then flowed back up into system-level analysis. The LCS team’s collective expertise in all phases of software, hardware and system development, including the pending IEC 61508 TÜV certification, assures IEC 61508 certification applicants predictable and cost-effective success.