Altera Corporation (Intel) today announced the availability of a functional safety  development board and FPGA reference designs through NewTec, a leading European provider of safety-related electronic systems. The new board and reference designs coupled with Altera’s TUV Rheinland-qualified FPGAs, tools, and IP, enable customers to accelerate development and certification of FPGA-based system designs. Altera is demonstrating this and other offerings at SPS IPC Drives 2014, from November 25-27 at the Altera stand # 270 in Hall 3. Altera’s functional safety data package includes comprehensive device support, enhanced software design flows and IP for functional safety system design, allowing customers using Cyclone® FPGAs to reduce risks and cost-effectively meet safety-critical system requirements across product lines.

The functional safety board and accompanying reference designs are designed by Altera and NewTec to reduce customer design effort for safety designs requiring IEC 61508 certification up to SIL 3 (safety integrity level 3).

“Altera’s TUV-qualified devices, tools and dedicated safety IP offer the development, certification and system cost reductions for differentiated functional safety system design required in this increasingly competitive market,” said David Moore, director of the Industrial Business Unit, Altera. “The availability of functional safety reference designs and safety development board from NewTec in conjunction with our multi-generational functional safety data package offering helps our customers bring reliable functional safety solutions to market quickly while protecting their investments for the long term.”

Functional Safety

Functional safety, defined as the part of a system’s overall safety that depends on correct operation in response to inputs, is an important part of consumer confidence in a product. IEC 61508 certification ensures electrical, electronic or programmable electronic systems that carry out safety functions meet industry-standard safety guidelines, measured by the probability that a system or piece of equipment will fail under certain conditions. Altera’s functional safety data package is certified up to SIL 3, which means that customers have access to Altera’s latest devices and certified tools without requiring additional certification for safety-related designs.

Demonstration Uses “Light Curtain” to Stop Factory Equipment

At SPS Drives IPC, Altera, in conjunction with NewTec, is demonstrating how Cyclone V FPGAs with a 1oo2 SIL 3 architecture enables a safe stop in the form of a light-curtain that is attached to the functional safety board. When the light curtain is breached, for example by a human hand penetrating the light curtain, end equipment connected to the board stops in a fail-safe manner.

Altera Cyclone FPGAs and SoCs and MAX® FPGAs and CPLDs enable industrial solutions that include functional safety, industrial Ethernet, motion/motor control, human machine vision and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) by accelerating algorithms in the programmable logic device hardware and reducing your time to market.

Availability

The functional safety board and reference design compliant with IEC 61508 SIL 3 are currently available from New Tec for customer evaluation. 

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