Introducing Tridefine: A Modeling Tool for lifecycle based functional safety projects

Keywords: TriDefine, State transition modelling, Requirements definition, COTS, Automatic documentation, Automatic code generation, IEC 61131

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Abstract:

The UK Health & Safety Executive publication “Out of Control” presents statistics which suggest that almost half of system failures are caused by “Totally Inadequate Specification”. This situation is recognised across many industry sectors, though in the majority of cases the results are detected more by escalating costs and schedule than by serious incidents. This shows that improving the definition process brings safety as well as financial benefits. IEC-61508 states that as the required integrity increases, then automated design methods are more highly recommended.

This paper describes the TriDefine tool which addresses this requirement by providing the unique combination of a dynamic State-Transition design environment with automatic generation of COTS compatible IEC-61131-3 application code, including user defined and vendor specific function blocks where required. TriDefine’s State-Transition models can be dynamically emulated and linked to process models for a spiral review cycle. The tool automatically generates the Function Block application programme from the State-Transition environment either as generic IEC-61131-3 or suitable for direct import to specific COTS safety logic solvers. Auto generated documentation and test cases are also described along with evidence of improved functional correctness and project efficiencies. © 2009 Inside Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Volume: 2009   Issue: 1
EUR 5.82
(Pages: 12, Words: 3883)

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