The Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology has been widely used by aerospace and other highly safety-critical applications because it offers many benefits over software-based systems. Expected benefits are both in terms of safety (simpler designs compared to software-based solutions, improved modularity) and cost (board-level upgrades vs. system level upgrades).

The upcoming International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62566 draft standard on “Nuclear Power Plants- Instrumentation and control important to safety- Selection and use of complex electronic components for systems performing category A functions” is a major step in the process of clarifying safety requirements for licensing. It contains recommendations and guidance relevant for the use of programmable logic components and the development lifecycle of applications using this technology.

Our presentation will focus on the verification and validation (V&V) aspects related to the draft IEC standard requirements.
To achieve verifiable designs, this standard provides requirement to favour determinism and modularity. Modularity should facilitate the use of formal verification methods. For EDF formal verifications bring a comprehensive analysis and a level of confidence that is often difficult to achieve solely by simulation and it may be use as a complement to the “standard” V&V process.