7 Safety Element Out of Context

The AM243x and AM64x series were developed as Safety Elements out of Context (SEooC). A SEooC is a device designed to support functional safety without beforehand knowledge of the end system safety goals or how the system operates. Developing a device as a SEooC is an efficient use of resources and capital as it allows a single device to support many different applications and safety goals.

To design an IC to support functional safety independent of the end application, several system-level assumptions must be made and supported at the system-level to meet the SIL level rating of the device. For example, one of the AM243x and AM64x system-level assumptions is that the power supply or other external monitoring device can monitor the processor and detect if it is non-responsive. A PMIC with on-chip watchdog timer is a common method to meet this requirement.

A complete list of system assumptions is available in the AM243x and AM64x safety manual. The safety manual provides an extensive list of diagnostic recommendations and details of the types of diagnostics supported. Depending on the safety goals of the system integrator, the system integrator can chose a subset of the available hardware and software diagnostics to support the functional safety goals; that is, not all of the available safety diagnostics must be used in a given system.