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RM46L852: Hercules microcontrollers for IEC 60730 Class C applications

Will Treharne
Intellectual 270 points
Part Number: RM46L852

We are currently selecting a microcontroller for an application which must be compliant with IEC 60730 Class C. Looking through the SafeTI pages, a number of C2000 family microcontrollers are recommended for IEC 60730 applications, however we have had difficulties in getting these to work with some of our tools due to the 16-bit minimum addressable unit.

The RM46 family looks like a good alternative from the specification with what appears to be many superior safety related features. However, this family seems to be recommended more for IEC 61508 applications. Is there any reason why the RM46 family would not be suitable for a 60730 application or why they are not suggested on the SafeTI-60730 page? Also, are there any plans to try to certify the Hercules hardware or safety diagnostic software libraries with TUV for IEC 60730 compliance if they haven't been already?

  • 0
    TI__Guru 59540 points
    Hello Will,

    Our Hercules products are more than capable of compliance with IEC 60730. The only reason we don't include it on the SafeTI-60730 page was primarily a marketing decision and the decision to certify to IEC 61508 is because it is the more stringent safety standard.

    Currently, there are no plans to certify any of the Hercules HW or SW to the IEC 60703 standard, but I am fairly certain that you could use the IEC 61508 certification of our MCU as evidence of compliance to the IEC 60730 standards. In regard to SW, none of our SW is specifically certified but is developed in a IEC 61508 certified process and we offer Compliance support packages to allow customers to replicate our test process and use the generated reports as evidence of compliance.
  • 0 in reply to Chuck Davenport
    Intellectual 270 points
    Many thanks for the quick response!

    Are TI able to offer (or recommend a third party for) consultancy services to advise on hardware and software design for 60730 applications? For example, is it possible to meet all of the requirements for Class C compliance using a single microcontroller with dual CPUs (such as the Hercules family), or is a separate hardware watchdog or safety microcontroller needed?
  • 0 in reply to Will Treharne
    TI__Guru 59540 points
    Hi Will,

    We have previously had discussions with UL on potential certification to IEC60730 but we didn't pursue it as mentioned due to a marketing decision. We have also worked with TUEV SUED extensively for assessment to ISO26262 and IEC61508 standards. I am not sure if they also cover the IEC60730 but I would guess they do.

    Also, to clarify, the Hercules devices are not dual core devices. They are single core devices with a lockstep CPU. Only one of the CPUs is on the main bus and takes action within the MCU architecture. The second one is there only as a diagnostic. Every signal (input and output) from each of the primary and diagnostic CPUs is compared with a compare module such that any deviation from each other is flagged as a fault/error. In the end, the MCU can be used the same as any single core MCU at the application level and there are no implications regarding memory and/or peripheral sharing as you would have in a dual core system where the cores are operating independently.