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Our white papers explore the challenges, technologies and standards shaping functional safety and modern embedded software development. Covering standards such as ISO 26262 and ISO/SAE 21434, as well as topics including the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), cybersecurity, RTOS architecture, Safety Islands, software partitioning, lifecycle management and mixed-criticality systems.

These papers provide expert insights and practical guidance for engineers developing high-integrity embedded systems across automotive, industrial, medical and other safety-critical applications.

Browse the white papers below to discover best practices for building safe, secure and reliable embedded systems.

Safety Islands: Enabling Safe Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV)

This white paper explores how Safety Islands provide an independent supervisory domain for monitoring, fault management, and safe-state control, enabling OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to support safety-critical applications while accelerating software innovation.

Discover why Safety Islands are becoming a standard component of modern SDV architectures, how Cortex-R52 processors are commonly used for safety supervision, and the relationship between Safety Islands, ISO 26262, and freedom from interference. The paper also explains how SAFERTOS® supports safety-critical Safety Island implementations.

Download the safety islands white paper

SAFERTOS® and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

What does the CRA mean for your RTOS and embedded software?

The CRA introduces cybersecurity obligations for products with digital elements sold within the EU. For software suppliers and embedded developers, compliance requires evidence of secure development, vulnerability management and lifecycle maintenance.

Our latest white paper explains how SAFERTOS® and the Enhanced Security Module (ESM) support CRA readiness and explores why RTOS platforms are coming under increased scrutiny. It also explains why cybersecurity is becoming as much an evidence challenge as a technical challenge under the CRA.

Download the CRA white paper

Performing the Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment (TARA) Analysis Out Of Context

Cybersecurity is rapidly gaining significance in embedded systems which were once considered suitably isolated from threats from the outside world.

This paper explores the application of ISO 21434 standards to enhance cybersecurity in embedded systems, focusing on the automotive industry. It discusses the integration of cybersecurity practices into the product life cycle, including conducting SAFERTOS® security analysis and incorporating Threat Assessment and Risk Assessment (TARA) results. Insights and lessons learned from TARA implementation are presented, alongside the practical outcome: the SAFERTOS® Enhanced Security Module.

This paper was created for, and presented at, Embedded World 2024.

Download white paper: Performing The TARA Analysis

Performing the TARA Analysis white paper image

Visualizing SAFERTOS® Applications

Understanding what happens inside a safety‑critical RTOS at runtime is essential, but not always easy.

In our new joint white paper with Percepio, we explore how Tracealyzer brings clarity to SAFERTOS® applications by visualizing task scheduling, RTOS calls, execution timing and system interactions.

Using a real‑world watchdog reset scenario, the paper shows how engineers can move from symptoms to root cause and resolution with confidence.

Download white paper: Visualizing SAFERTOS Applications

Saving Power Through Software Development

The power consumption of digital devices is not solely determined by hardware; software plays a crucial role in influencing energy usage. As conscientious engineers, we can strive to maximise the value derived from each gram of carbon dioxide emitted.

This paper explores the proof-of-concept developed by WHIS, illustrating how a single line of code can save over a third of the total energy consumed. It also discusses power-saving measures across the entire embedded system and specific energy-saving tailored for automotive and industrial software applications.

Download white paper: saving power

Saving power white paper cover

NXP’s Real-Time Drivers and SAFERTOS®

This white paper demonstrates how to start with freely available building blocks and migrate to a product ready for safety certification.

Written in partnership with NXP, this white paper explores the development of a safety application in the context of migrating from NXP’s Microcontroller Abstraction Layer (MCAL) or Software Development Kit (SDK) drivers to NXP’s Real Time Drivers (RTD), and from FreeRTOS to SAFERTOS®.

download whitepaper: NXP's Real-Time Drivers and SAFERTOS®

image of white paper

Building on FreeRTOS for Safety Critical Applications

FreeRTOS is a top choice for embedded developers of mission-critical applications. But are you taking advantage of its prototyping capabilities for safety critical applications?

This paper examines why it’s so straight forward to upgrade from FreeRTOS for safety critical applications, and how to get your project up and running the low cost, low risk way.

Download White Paper: Building on FreeRTOS for Safety Critical Applications


Free to Safe white paper

RTOS Security: SAFERTOS® and Its Enhanced Security Module

What does security typically mean to an embedded system? It is well known that no one action will make an embedded device secure, just as there is no one security risk; security requires a multi-layered approach.

This white paper demonstrates how SAFERTOS® and its Enhanced Security Module can be used to provide internal protection mechanisms to prevent, detect, and slow bad actors from gaining access to sensitive data, or gaining control of a system.

 

Download Whitepaper: RTOS Security

SAFERTOS® & IAR Embedded Workbench For RISC-V

RISC-V is an ambitious programme to develop a universal Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) that is suitable for all processors, from small embedded microcontrollers to fast high performance computers.

This whitepaper, written in partnership with IAR Systems, looks at the maturity of the RISC-V ISA and its use in safety certified products. The combination of IAR Embedded Workbench with SAFERTOS on the RISC-V ISA is explored as a safety solution for the future.

RiscV_Whitepaper

Download White paper: RISC-V White paper

IAR white paper

Free Demos & Manuals

Download fully functional, time-limited SAFERTOS® demos, plus manuals, datasheets, and more.

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Safety Critical RTOS

It is becoming increasingly popular to tackle complexity by constructing the embedded platform from Functional Safety Components.

Issues discussed within this white paper include:

  • Adapting the RTOS for use with different technology;
  • Adapting the RTOS to satisfy different safety design standards;
  • Building a software architecture from Functional Safety Components;
  • Functional Safety RTOS architecture considerations.

This white paper focuses on the development and use of a Functional Safety RTOS, however the topics discussed can equally be applied to any embedded software component that requires functional safety certification.

This paper was created for, and presented at, Embedded World 2019.

Download White Paper: Safety Critical RTOS


Safety Critical RTOS White Paper

Coping with Complexity, Designing for Safety

With every new update, microcontrollers increase in power and features. An unfortunate side effect is the increase in complexity, requiring the developer to read and understand larger amounts of information. In safety critical applications this complexity poses a significant risk. How does the designer know if they have covered all eventualities?

This white paper will examine the advantages of using a safety certified processor to tackle complexity, and how to demonstrate completeness of design to a certification body using an STM32 embedded microcontroller and SAFERTOS®, a safety critical Real Time Operating System.

“The SIL3 pre-certified SAFERTOS® from WITTENSTEIN high integrity systems, based on the functional model of the FreeRTOS kernel, is a natural choice for STM32 safety applications requiring an RTOS.” – Laurent Desseignes, Microcontroller Ecosystem Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics.

Download White Paper: Coping with Complexity

Complexity White Paper

Increasing Security in Medical Devices

Connected medical devices have many benefits – they offer opportunities for continuous monitoring, telemedicine and big data analytics to uncover hidden trends. With connectivity, there is always a risk that bad actors could gain access to medical devices, with potential life or death consequences.

As attacks evolve and get increasingly novel, aggressive, sophisticated and frequent, defences must be continually refined, improved, strengthened and hardened. But how should we do this?

This white paper addresses the first steps to take when developing security software for medical applications, through use of standards, the development life cycle, and common security mechanisms.

Download White Paper: Increasing Security in Medical Devices

Medical Device White Paper

Issues Affecting Automotive Software Developers

There has been an amazing growth of software used within automobiles in recent years, with cars quickly becoming super computers on wheels. The challenges facing engineers developing embedded software for automobiles are great, and cover a very broad range of issues.

This white paper introduces and discusses the issues that face embedded software engineers who are developing automotive software, including:

  • Types of Automotive Software
  • Safety Development Standards inc. ISO 26262
  • Security in Automotive Embedded Systems
  • Reusable Software Platforms inc. OSEK & AUTOSAR
  • Software Architecture Considerations
Download White Paper: Issues Affecting Automotive Developers

Automotive White Paper

Embedded Architectures Supporting Mixed Safety Integrity Software

We are proud to present our new series of White Papers focusing on mixed SIL software designs. Download the new White Paper today, and sign up to our newsletter to be notified of the next release in the series.

System designers are now faced with the challenge of providing safety and functionality as part of the same system. In many cases safety critical systems have to support feature rich graphical interfaces, responsive networking communications, diagnostics, data storage and much more. Due to the rigours of developing safety critical software the development costs are high and it would not be feasible to develop all the software used within the system to the highest safety level required.

This means that within a single system there may be several different levels of safety software.

Therefore the software within the system needs to be partitioned, grouping software of the same safety level together, and assuring that software from lower safety levels can not interfere with software relating to the higher safety levels. Partitioning allows the safety related software to be kept small and concise, whilst allowing the use of third party software modules, which shortens development times and lowers costs.


Mixed Safety Integrity Level White Paper

Paper 1:
Embedded Architectures Supporting Mixed Safety Integrity Software

This paper discusses in detail partitioning techniques used in mixed safety level embedded systems. Click the image to download the full White Paper

Download White Paper


Mixed Safety Integrity Level White Paper

Paper 2:
Using an MPU to Enforce Spatial Separation

This paper discusses techniques for achieving spatial separation or partitioning of software in an embedded system. Click the image to download the full White Paper

Download White Paper


Mixed Safety Integrity Level White Paper

Paper 3:
Checkpoints and Temporal Separation

This paper discusses techniques to achieve temporal separation or time based partitioning of software in an embedded system. Click the image to download the full White Paper.

Download White Paper