Software Architecture for Safety Communication in Critical Systems

Safety systems for critical industrial automation must detect the highest possible percentage of communication errors because they can place lives, property, or the environment at risk. To reduce the probability of failures, safety communication protocols developed in accordance with IEC 61784-3 and certified in accordance with IEC 61508 are used. These standards define the fault tolerance mechanisms and software engineering measures that should be implemented to detect and avoid errors that can corrupt data transmission between automation devices. This paper presents the main aspects of the implementation of a safety communication protocol, that were observed during the development of a programmable logic controler.