Imagination reveals that its new automotive product, Imagination DXS GPU IP, has been independently certified as ISO 26262 ASIL-B compliant following a thorough audit and assessment by SGS-TÜV Saar, part of SGS, a world-leading testing, inspection and certification company.
All functions that a vehicle performs are graded based on potential risk according to the ISO 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL). The ASIL-B standard requires processors to have diagnostic coverage of greater than 90% for single point faults.
The Imagination DXS GPU introduced an innovation in the field of distributed functional safety that eliminates the PPA (power, performance, area) overhead of meeting ASIL-B functional safety standards. It features a patented mechanism that takes advantage of the inherent parallelism of today’s processors and the fact that no thread is ever fully utilised to identify faults within the timeframe set by the ASIL-B standard without the need to repeat workloads or duplicate silicon area. More information is available in our “Innovations in Distributed Safety” white paper.
“Imagination GPUs are widely deployed in the automotive market and expanding their presence beyond in-vehicle infotainment into the more safety-critical advanced driver assistance systems,” says James Chapman, Chief Product Officer at Imagination. “Independent certification that the Imagination DXS GPU meets the >90% diagnostic coverage expected of ISO 26262 ASIL-B components provides the necessary reassurance to safety-critical system integrators that its novel distributed safety technique will meet their requirements. We expect to see a lot of demand for this product, not just in automotive but also in other safety conscious markets.”
“Congratulations to Imagination Technologies for achieving ASIL-B certification for their latest automotive processor. Throughout the assessment and audit process, Imagination demonstrated a culture that values safety, as well as suitably rigorous product design and development processes,” says Functional Safety Product Manager Liu Min SGS-TÜV Saar.
The specific configuration certified was the IMG DXS-8-256 GPU. Imagination is planning to submit all Imagination DXS GPU configurations for independent certification over the coming months.
