Checking Compliance with ISO 26262 using Conceptual Modeling as a Tool

Abstract

With the advancement in technology in the automotive sector, there is an increase in the need of safety assurance of road vehicles. ISO 26262 is a safety critical standard intended to be applied to safety-related E/E systems in passenger cars. The standard also addresses the possible hazards caused by the failure of these systems and uses a risk-based approach to ensure functional safety of the systems. It is important, during the design and development phases of a product, to ensure that the product is in compliance with the standard. Therefore, we present an idea of using conceptual modeling to help verify the E/E systems with ISO 26262. The standard categorizes the requirements and recommendations into what is known in the standard as a Work Product. Building conceptual models of these work products not only gives us a visual representation of the contents of a standard but also helps standardize the process of compliance checking of a product against the standard. The process of using conceptual modeling for checking compliance of a product with the standard is explained in this thesis. The technique of using conceptual modeling not only proved to be efficient for product verification against the standard but was also helpful in exposing important structural aspects of the standard.