Functional Safety Certification Required but Involves Significant Time and Cost
MPLAB XC Compiler Obtains TÜV SÜD Certification
MPLAB Code Coverage License Also Introduced


Functional safety certification is required in many industrial fields, but the certification process is time-consuming and costly. Additionally, if the development tool used is not a certified tool from functional safety specialist organizations such as Germany's TÜV SÜD, the validity of the justification for using the development tool may need to be specifically demonstrated.

Microchip Technology announced on the 20th that the MPLAB XC Compiler has obtained functional safety certification from TÜV SÜD. This has simplified the functional safety qualification process for Microchip's PIC, AVR, SAM MCU and dsPIC DSC.

The MPLAB XC Compiler helps meet the verification and certification requirements specified in ISO 26262, the international functional safety standard for automotive applications, IEC 61508, the international functional safety standard for industrial applications, IEC 62304 for medical software, and IEC 60730 for automatic electrical controls.

The compiler is provided as a package with additional documentation regarding MPLAB X IDE and MPLAB debugger/programmer verification. The MPLAB XC functional safety license does not charge a separate renewal fee annually. When using Microchip MCUs with functional safety licenses, application costs and time-to-market can be reduced.

Microchip has also introduced the MPLAB Code Coverage License. It identifies which portions of the software have been executed or not executed while minimizing impact on the application.

To pass rigorous testing of embedded software using code coverage tools, not only large-scale hardware modifications and expensive software are required, but also significant effort is needed to locate relevant information from large data files.

The MPLAB Code Coverage product can prevent these issues while keeping the impact on test time to less than 1%. By applying a patented process, testing can be performed in a single pass without dividing the code into blocks.

Time is saved and the task of manually locating large data files can be eliminated. Certified applications may require such code testing data, so this new license can be helpful in the certification process.

Rodger Richey, Director of Development Systems at Microchip, stated, "Recently, functional safety tools for MCU products are very costly," and added, "Microchip supplies functional safety products at approximately one-third the price of some competitors' solutions and provides global technical support."

MPLAB X IDE version 5.25 can be downloaded free from Microchip's website. The MPLAB Code Coverage Workstation License is currently available for purchase at $799. The MPLAB XC8, XC16, XC32++ functional safety workstation licenses are each available for purchase at $2,995.