Efficient safety mechanism selection for achieving functional safety

A system comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• and
• one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
• determining a first realized diagnostic coverage level of a target environment based on a first set of data describing a first layer of the target environment implemented with a set of existing safety mechanisms that each implement an electronic function or element to either detect a fault or control a failure, the first set of data comprising a hardware description language (HDL) description of various electronic circuits in the first layer of the target environment, the determining of the first realized diagnostic coverage level of the target environment comprising using the first set of data to perform an automated analysis and simulation of the various electronic circuits in the first layer of the target environment, the automated analysis and simulation comprising inserting faults to determine whether the set of existing safety mechanisms can detect inserted faults, the first realized diagnostic coverage level comprising a value representing a percentage of faults that were detectable by the set of existing safety mechanisms;
• determining that the first realized diagnostic coverage level is less than a target diagnostic coverage level for the target environment;
• identifying a first set of additional safety mechanisms that can be implemented at the first layer of the target environment;
• ranking the first set of additional safety mechanisms;
• and
• selecting a first additional safety mechanism from the first set of additional safety mechanisms based on the ranking of the first set of additional safety mechanisms.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors of one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:

• determining a first realized diagnostic coverage level of a target environment based on a first set of data describing a first layer of the target environment implemented with a set of existing safety mechanisms that each implement an electronic function or element to either detect a fault or control a failure, the first set of data comprising a hardware description language (HDL) description of various electronic circuits in the first layer of the target environment, the determining of the first realized diagnostic coverage level of the target environment comprising using the first set of data to perform an automated analysis and simulation of the various electronic circuits in the first layer of the target environment, the automated analysis and simulation comprising inserting faults to determine whether the set of existing safety mechanisms can detect inserted faults, the first realized diagnostic coverage level comprising a value representing a percentage of faults that were detectable by the set of existing safety mechanisms;
• determining that the first realized diagnostic coverage level is less than a target diagnostic coverage level for the target environment;
• identifying a first set of additional safety mechanisms that can be implemented at the first layer of the target environment;
• ranking the first set of additional safety mechanisms;
• and
• selecting a first additional safety mechanism from the first set of additional safety mechanisms based on the ranking of the first set of additional safety mechanisms.