CLEARSY Safety Plateform for academic use

CLEARSY Safety Platform

Computer for academic use: CLEARSY Safety Plateform

The CLEARSY Academic Safety Platform is a simplified version of the industrial platform, allowing the development and deployment of critical applications up to SIL4 level. It provides an introduction to formal modeling and programming for the control of critical functions within a simplified framework suitable for a training session of about ten hours.

The CLEARSY Academic Safety Platform is a fail-safe computer (safety refers to the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk) capable of performing a self-assessment to check if it can safely complete its mission. The self-assessment is based on various hardware and software features to detect, for example, memory corruption, clock drift, or leakage current.

The main architecture relies on 2 microcontrollers executing the same program while regularly checking that they can communicate with each other. Digital outputs are electrical relays requiring both microcontrollers to agree to activate. If the self-assessment fails, the computer deactivates its outputs and enters an infinite loop doing nothing. The executed program consists of two parts:

  • One part developed in C and MIPS assembly language, called non-replicated code, containing the main loop, interrupt processing, and some non-safety-related functions.
  • One part developed with B (specification and implementation), called replicated code, which contains the critical application.

Binary codes are produced from the B implementation using two different code generators (C + gcc on one hand, an in-house B to binary compiler on the other). During each iteration of the main loop, the two binaries are executed in sequence, and their memory spaces containing the safety variables must have exactly the same content. Verifications are programmed once and for all in the safety library provided with Atelier B. The safety properties of the platform are out of the developer’s reach and cannot be altered.

The CLEARSY Academic Safety Platform consists of a small-sized computer (10cm x 10cm x 2cm), equipped with 3 digital inputs and 2 digital outputs, embedding two PIC32 microcontrollers, and an integrated development environment based on Atelier B.

The software, the non-replicated C code, and the safety library are provided in a non-modifiable form. The developer only needs to modify the provided B project to specify and implement the function for controlling the outputs based on the state of the inputs. To keep the purchase price at an acceptable level for an academic institution, the computer does not include all the safety electronics of the industrial version. Therefore, this board cannot be used in a real safety-critical system.

Dissemination

The CLEARSY Safety Platform is used as a training tool for teaching formal methods, primarily in the final year of university programs in Europe and America. Notable users include the University of Louvain (Belgium), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), the University of Sherbrooke (Canada), the University of Florence (Italy), Swansea University (United Kingdom), as well as Aix-Marseille University, CentraleSupélec, ENSIIE, ESIEE, Eurecom, Paris-Dauphine University, Telecom Paris, and UPEC in France.

Downloads

Configurations

The CLEARSY Safety Platform is available in 2 configurations, for demonstration and academic use:

SK0 board standard

This fully functional board includes 2 processors, 512 Ko Flash, 128 Ko RAM, 3 digital inputs and 2 digital outputs. It is programmed with the Atelier CLEARSY Safety Platform IDE.

SK0 board with accessories

Adequate for instant practice. It includes:

  • 1 pre-assembled SK0 board (Plexiglas with serigraphy, struts),
  • 1 power supply 5V,
  • 1 micro USB cable,
  • 3 switches

Price for SK0 board

Quantity x1 x10
SK0 board 275€ HT 2 500€ HT
SK0 board with accessories 325€ HT 2 900€ HT

Prices are VAT excluded. Shipping fees are not included. They are 50€ for 1 or 10 boards in Europe. For other quantity or destination, please contact us.

Each SK0 board is provided with:

  • Its electronic documentation (PDF),
  • The Software Development Environment (Atelier CLEARSY Safety Platform). It includes a formal modelling environment supporting the B language, a double toolchain for compilation and a bootloader to upload software on the SK0 board. A recent Windows operating system is required.

Our CLEARSY Safety Platform products are entirely produced in France.

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