In the last decade, modern vehicles have become very complex, being equipped with embedded electronic systems which include more than a thousand of electronic control units (ECUs). Therefore, it is mandatory to analyze the potential risk of automotive systems failure because it could have a significant impact on humans’ safety. This paper proposes a novel, functional safety concept at the power management level of a system basis chip (SBC), from the development phase to system design. In the presented case, the safety-critical application is represented by a powertrain transmission electronic control unit. A step-by-step design guideline procedure is presented, having as a focus the cost, safety, and performance to obtain a robust, cost-efficient, safe, and reliable design. To prove compliance with the ISO 26262 standard, quantitative worst-case evaluations of the hardware have been done. The assessment results qualify the proposed design with automotive safety integrity levels (ASIL, up to ASIL-D). The main contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how to apply the functional safety concept to a real, safety-critical system by following the proposed design methodology.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.