Multi-Version FPGA-Based Nuclear Power Plant I&C Systems: Evolution of Safety Ensuring

Abstract

To guarantee required level of dependability, safety and security of computer-based systems for critical (safety-critical, mission-critical and business-critical) applications it is used diversity approach. This approach implies development, choice and implementation of a few diverse design options of redundant channels for created system. Probability of common cause failure (CCF) of safety-critical systems may be essentially decreased due to selection and deployment of different diversity types on the assumption of maximal independence of redundant channels realizing software-hardware versions. This circumstance calls forth that a lot of international and national standards and guides contain the requirements to use diversity in safety-critical systems, first of all, in nuclear power plant (NPP) instrumentation and control systems (I&Cs) (reactor trip systems), aerospace on-board equipment (automatic/robot pilot, flight control systems), railway automatics (signalling and blocking systems), service oriented architecture (SOA)-based web-systems (e-science) etc. (