UK engineers boost embedded system safety

Engineers at the University of Leicester have patented a technology designed to make safety a "sure thing" in devices that contain embedded processors, including aircraft, cars and robots.

The technology has led to the development of a new product brand dubbed RapidiTTy.

TTE Systems, a company spun out from the university, will develop and market the technology.

TTE Systems offers software tools which support the rapid development and testing of a wide range of embedded systems, which the firm claimed can make " all the difference between life and death in some scenarios".

Dr Devaraj Ayavoo, technical manager at TTE Systems, said: "If you are surfing the web and it takes a few seconds longer than normal to access a particular page, this will not usually matter at all.

"However, if you put your foot on the brakes in your car you cannot afford to wait. You need to be sure that the brakes will work immediately. At TTE Systems our job is to ensure that complex embedded systems always work correctly."

Dr Michael Pont, chief executive at TTE Systems, and head of the Embedded Systems Laboratory at Leicester, added: "In an industry geared at developing new systems very quickly, the development of predicable systems has often been ignored.

"Our work involves what are known as 'time-triggered', or TT, designs. The goal can be stated very simply: in a TT design, we know in advance exactly what the embedded system will be doing at every moment during its execution."

Dr Pont explained that the TT techniques can be applied in a wide range of systems, even where safety is not a key requirement.

For example, in many consumer appliances like washing machines, dishwashers and DVD players, customers would welcome improved reliability.