Barr Groups 2018 Embedded Systems Safety & Security Survey Reveals Little Movement Toward Safer Product Development
Summary
“It is disheartening to see that many designers of safety-critical systems continue to skip software development steps that are known to reduce the number of bugs and unplanned behaviors in embedded systems.” Of the industry-recommended design practices highlighted in the survey, the following statistics are of greatest concern: 43% don’t do regular code reviews 41% don’t perform regression testing 38% don’t comply with any safety standard 33% don’t use a static analysis tool 17% don’t follow any coding standard “Of safety-critical embedded products currently in development, two out of three target the medical, industrial, automotive, and defense/aerospace industries,” Barr pointed out.Applications strengthened as a result of services and resources provided by Barr Group include those in the automotive, medical, defense, industrial controls, consumer electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) markets.While there have been some wins across the embedded systems industry overall - such as (1) greater numbers of developers of internet-connected devices including security as a product design requirement and (2) an increase in automating the enforcement of some coding standard rules - there has been no apparent progress in the specific area of safety-critical devices.“This year’s survey confirms that products in development have become increasingly complex, for example, having more microprocessors aboard, which opens the door wider to opportunities for product malfunction,” said Barr Group CTO Michael Barr.“It is disheartening to see that many designers of safety-critical systems continue to skip software development steps that are known to reduce the number of bugs and unplanned behaviors in embedded systems.”Of the industry-recommended design practices highlighted in the survey, the following statistics are of greatest concern:43% don’t do regular code reviews41% don’t perform regression testing38% don’t comply with any safety standard33% don’t use a static analysis tool17% don’t follow any coding standard“Of safety-critical embedded products currently in development, two out of three target the medical, industrial, automotive, and defense/aerospace industries,” Barr pointed out.Applications strengthened as a result of services and resources provided by Barr Group include those in the automotive, medical, defense, industrial controls, consumer electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) markets.