Freescale and MicroSys Collaborate on Development Platform for Industrial Functional Safety

Increasingly stringent functional safety standards and continued pressure to speed development cycles are creating new challenges for industrial equipment systems designers, while driving demand for highly-integrated solutions with fewer components and easier-to-use software. To address these challenges, market leaders Freescale Semiconductor and embedded system solutions provider MicroSys Electronics GmbH are collaborating to establish the industry's most integrated development platform for functional safety. The SafeAssure kit, developed by MicroSys (miriac-EK5744), is engineered to speed and simplify the creation of industrial equipment required to meet key functional safety standards.

The highly-integrated kit is designed to reduce component redundancies, lower bill of material costs and dramatically speed development for systems engineers targeting next-generation industrial safety applications such as factory automation, transportation, aerospace, defense and more. The miriac-EK5744 kit provides an optimized platform for evaluating, designing and prototyping applications which must meet safety standards such as the European Commission’s 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive, the IEC 61508 (2010) and 62061 (2005) safety standards, as well as the ISO 13849 (2008) standard. MicroSys and Freescale are additionally working with international certifying organization TÜV SÜD on a concept assessment of the miriac-EK5744 kit.

“MicroSys is recognized worldwide for its industrial acumen and exceptional quality,” said Ray Cornyn, vice president of Automotive Microcontroller Products at Freescale. “This SafeAssure kit is a great example of the kind of innovation that is possible when industrial market technology leaders join forces to address challenging marketplace requirements.”

The SafeAssure kit from MicroSys (miriac-EK5744) integrates Freescale’s 32-bit Qorivva MPC5744P microcontroller (MCU) and the MC33907 system power management IC with physical transceivers. These Freescale components are part of the Freescale SafeAssure program, which offers a broad solution set of MCUs, sensors and analogue ICs, as well as support for functional safety application design that includes training, safety documentation and technical support.

“With their SafeAssure program, Freescale is the ideal partner for establishing our new range of miriac functional safety kits. Their highly integrated safety MCU architectures and advanced analogue technologies are ideal for the miriac-EK5744 kit,” said Dieter Pfeiffer, CEO ofMicroSys Electronics GmbH. “Other safety kits require more board components to deliver the functionality required to meet today’s demanding safety standards, but Freescale’s Qorivva MPC5744P integrates advanced dual lock-step cores, together with many other integrated safety features, allowing for a single-MCU based development platform that delivers the performance and functionality that industrial customers demand from next-generation equipment.”

Additional information regarding the SafeAssure kit will be available in Freescale conference booth # 6-137 at the 2013 SPS/IPC/Drives conference in Nuremberg, Germany taking place November 26 – 28. The SafeAssure kit from MicroSys (miriac-EK5744) is expected to be available for purchase in the first quarter of 2014.