System development is a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of pieces. Pieces can be anything like semiconductor components, software or even subsystems. They are safety elements out of context (SEooC). Such SEooCs can have various sizes of scope and are sometimes kept fuzzy for flexibility. Bringing those pieces together is a non-trivial task that challenges the integrator with:
• Boundaries: What does the SEooC take care of? Which assumptions of one SEooC are already satisfied by another element? What remains to be done?
• Flexibility: If assumptions allow flexibility, is there guidance on how to apply to the specific use case? If assumptions are optional, is there guidance for arguing the tailoring?
• To facilitate the task, puzzle pieces must be easy to combine.
Dr. Martin Oberkönig
Senior Staff Elect. Design Engineer
Cypress Semiconductor GmbH