Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems

Safety-critical devices, whether medical, rail, automotive or industrial are dependent on the correct operation of sophisticated software. Many standards describe how such systems should be designed, built and verified. Developers who previously had to know only how to program devices for their industry must now understand and deploy additional development practices and be prepared to justify their work to external assessors.

The third edition of Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems is about the creation of dependable embedded software. It is written for system designers, implementers and verifiers who are experienced in general embedded software development, but who are now facing the prospect of developing a software-based system for safety-critical applications. In particular, it is aimed at those creating a product that must satisfy one or more of the international standards relating to safety critical applications, including IEC 61508, ISO 26262, EN 50716, UL 4600, ISO 21448, ISO/PAS 8800 or IEC 62304.

This book has evolved from a course text used by QNX for a three-day training module on building embedded software for safety-critical systems. Although it describes open source tools for most applications, it also provides enough information for you to seek out commercial vendors if that’s the route you decide to pursue. All of the techniques described in this book may be further explored through several hundred references to articles that the author has personally found helpful as a professional software developer. Almost all of these references are available for free download.

Until February 2024 Chris was a full-time employee of QNX, working on the development, verification and certification of complex software systems. Since February Chris has continued this work as a consultant and as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Waterloo (Ontario). Chris has been a member of two safety working groups, producing guidance documents for Assurance Cases and for the safety analysis of Complex Systems: Chris is the editor of the documents being created for both groups. He has published papers at various conferences on safety topics, most recently two papers delivered at the Safety Critical Systems Symposium in York, UK, in February 2025. He has two distinct sets of books. CRC Press has published his technical books and Aviation Publishers (https://www.aviationpublishers.com/) has published his aviation books. Since edition 2 of Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems appeared, several of the aviation books have been republished to keep up with changes in aviation regulations and practices. No other technical book has appeared.