Design cycle and embedded systems platform applied to Industrial Electronics for an MSc program in Industrial Engineering

The core of the brand new Industrial Electronics subject proposed in the MSc program in Industrial Engineering at Tecnun-University of Navarra is presented here. Students do laboratory exercises in which they design the safety-related part of a control system by means of an embedded platform (SBRio from National Instruments). Starting with the design and life cycle of any electronic device, the subject moves on to functional and non-functional requirements, mostly RAMS, highlighting the term reliability. With these concepts, the functional safety of an industrial system is studied through the ISO 13849-1 standard. The risk assessment determines the function that has to be protected and gives some ideas about how it should be done. This machinery standard proposes a category, and with it, an electronic or electromechanical system has to be designed and validated in order to mitigate the dangerous situation detected. The laboratory implementations are very useful for making the students navigate these concepts and methodologies.