Safety package announced for ARM Compiler 6

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In a move intended to help developers to meet functional safety requirements, ARM has announced a safety package for ARM Compiler 6; its latest C/C++ compilation toolchain.

The package consists of the safety-certified ARM Compiler toolchain, a compiler qualification kit and support and maintenance. The safety package is said to simplify safety certification whilst offering automotive OEMs an efficient C and C++ code-generation tool for ARM-based hardware platforms.

Tony Smith, senior director of marketing with ARM’s Development Solutions Group, said: “ARM Compiler is already widely used in functional safety. ARM engineering has built on that expertise and further tuned the compilation toolchain for an increasingly diverse range of safety-related applications across ARM Cortex-A, -R and -M processors.”

Smith noted that, on particular synthetic automotive and industrial workloads, code built with ARM Compiler 6 can run up to 30% more quickly than that built with ARM Compiler 5. “Improvements to code size optimisation and the C Microlib library enable the toolchain to be used in tightly memory-constrained embedded applications,” he added.

The safety package will include the certificate and related reports from TÜV SÜD confirming that ARM Compiler 6 meets the highest tool qualification levels required by ISO26262, 61508, 62304 and EN50128. This, says Smith, means it can be used at any safety integrity level without further qualification efforts when the kit’s recommendations are followed.