RTOS kernel achieves IEC 61508 SIL3 certification for safety critical systems
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QNX Software Systems' QNX Neutrino rtos safe kernel has been certified to IEC 61508 Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL 3). The certification provides independent validation that the kernel offers a very high level of reliability and risk reduction when used in safety critical systems for transportation, energy generation, process control, and other industries.
IEC 61508 is an international standard defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission to convey the functional safety of electronic systems. Achieving certification requires systematic assessment by an independent certification body. SIL certification levels are defined by the IEC 61508 standard to designate a system's reduction of failure risk - the higher the SIL level, the lower the risk.
The QNX Neutrino employs a modular microkernel architecture in which applications, device drivers, file systems and networking stacks all run as separate, memory protected components. This architecture, together with its adaptive partitioning and multicore support, is designed to provide a flexible software foundation for mission and safety critical systems.
The certification process was performed by Sira Test & Certification, a specialist in conformity assessment that has been accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
To date, QNX has achieved certification to Common Criteria EAL 4+, POSIX PSE52 Realtime Controller 1003.13-2003, OpenGL ES, and ISO 9001:2008.
