Implementing Safety-Critical Systems: The VIPER Microprocessor

During the last five years industry has progressively spread the use of commercial microprocessors into many areas of real-time control. This has been particularly marked in military projects and has happened in a number of civil applications, such as control of nuclear reactors and railway signalling. Some of these applications are ‘safety-critical’ in the sense that design errors could result in accidents and loss of life. Good examples of such critical applications are found in the avionics fitted in civil and military aircraft [5].