Development for Functional Safety, whether for automotive systems, medical devices, or any other product where behavior must be predictable under all conditions, brings additional considerations to selection of the compiler to be used for software development. It must be possible to justify use of the compiler for safety development, and it must be possible to assess whether safety-related defects discovered in the compiler could affect the behavior of the product. If a discovered compiler defect could affect the product, it’s also useful to have access to low-risk compiler updates containing defect fixes.
Arm has a long history of creating embedded compilers for safety development, starting with Arm Compiler 5.04 LTM in October 2013, followed by Arm Compiler 5.06 LTM in May 2016. After the launch of Arm Compiler for Embedded (also known as AC6), Arm Compiler 6.6 for Functional Safety became available in May 2017 and Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.16 LTS in October 2021. We are happy to be able to announce the release of the latest Arm embedded compiler for safety development, Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22 LTS.
In common with its predecessors, Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22 LTS has features that aim to reduce cost and risk for safety development.
The compiler is assessed and provided with a certificate and report to the certificate by safety experts TÜV SÜD. It is also packaged with a comprehensive Qualification Kit including the Development Process report, Release History, Safety Manual, and Testing report. The Development Process report covers every aspect of how the compiler is created including requirements handling, development, testing & validation, release management, support and maintenance. The Safety Manual covers areas for example assumptions of use, product definition, use in safety development, and user requirements & recommendations. Together the TÜV SÜD assessment and certificate, together with the Qualification Kit documents, support justification of use of the compiler for safety development.
Defect Notification Reports contain details of safety defects that have been discovered in components of the compilation toolchain. A safety defect is a defect that could have a safety impact, for example a translation fault (the output of the compiler is not as expected). The information in the Defect Notification Report aims the user in assessing whether a compiler defect might affect (could be triggered by) the software being developed.
Stability Maintenance provides access to compiler updates containing fixes for safety defects. The compiler branch is isolated from all other changes, receiving no new architecture support, language support, optimizations or other functionality. This “stability” maintenance ensures minimal change in compiler updates, meaning reduced risk when adopting a compiler update to receive a fix for a safety defect. Stability maintenance is provided for 5 years from the compiler release: this might be referred to as Long Term Maintenance (LTM) or Long-Term Support (LTS).
In common with its predecessor compilers, Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22LTS is qualified for use in safety development conforming to the safety standards listed below to the highest SIL (Safety Integrity Level):
Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22 LTS delivers important benefits over the predecessor Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.16 LTS compiler:
Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22LTS is available to download now. Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22LTS is available under User-based Licensing only: licenses for Arm Success Kits, as well as stand-alone licenses for Arm Development UBL Studio Gold FuSa and Keil MDK 6 Professional will enable the compiler. Unlike its predecessor's safety compilers, Arm Compiler for Embedded FuSa 6.22 LTS will not be made available under a stand-alone license. It is available only as part of the Arm development suites above, representing an increase in simplicity and value when licensing Arm development tools.
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