While ADAS and autonomous driving technologies are rapidly evolving, the safety requirements automakers have for the IC industry are becoming increasingly complex, which fast-tracks active embracement of the automotive functional safety standard ISO 26262 and the cybersecurity standard lSO/SAE 21434 in the semiconductor industry.

Recently, Calterah was invited by TÜV Rheinland Greater China to a seminar for exchanges on technologies, standards and practices of semiconductor functional safety and cybersecurity, where top-notch IC technical experts gathered together to share insights about key issues, such as IC functional safety and cybersecurity, and collaboration of automakers and chip design companies. At the seminar, Calterah’s Functional Safety Manager Song Yu shared Calterah’s experience of functional safety practices and lessons learned as a fabless design house from two perspectives: why chips with functional safety are required and how to develop such ICs.

Figure 1. Audience at the Seminar

Calterah achieved ISO 26262 functional safety management certification in March 2020 with its processes supporting development of ICs up to the ASIL-D level. In August 2021, Calterah further passed the assessment of TÜV Rheinland and its Alps family members of radar sensor SoC chips were certified as ASIL-B fully compliant, becoming China’s first to obtain the ISO 26262 full compliance certification. The 3-year-long development and certification process of the Alps chips bears testimony to Calterah’s investment, know-how and capability in functional safety.

Figure 2. Calterah Shares Experience of Functional Safety Practices

In his speech, Song Yu first compared the differences in terms of safety-critical applications and architectures among the automotive field, industrial control systems, and railway signalling systems, and summarized special safety requirements the auto industry has for architectures and chips. Then he introduced how Calterah had managed to fulfil these requirements in functional safety management, functional safety concept, IP assessment, unit verification and integration verification, and developed the Alps products, the first ICs in China that are fully compliant with the ISO 26262 standard and certified by a third party. Moreover, Song also shared his knowledge about topics of great interest to the audience, such as evaluation of permanent and transient failure rates and guiding principles for safety mechanism design.

“The fact that Calterah’s Alps ICs have been proven compliant with the ISO 26262 standard is more significant than the certificate per se and being an industry-first in China,” Song Yu emphasized, “because only when our products become compliant with the standard, can we help clients achieve compliance and accelerate safety analysis, new product introduction and mass production.” This is in line with Calterah’s efforts to contribute to China’s auto industry and deliver on its mission “Make Millimeter-Wave Serve Everyone”.