Functional Safety design prioritizes reliability and predictable, fail-safe behavior. The IEC 61508 family of functional safety standards (including IEC 62061, ISO 26262, etc.) are performance-based standards used for design and development of automatic protection systems across industries, including industrial, machinery, robotics, medical devices, railways, mining, and automotive. These standards do not dictate prescriptive design solutions, but instead utilize performance metrics, providing designers with options that foster innovation and technical advancement.
To comply with performance-based standards, manufacturers and end users must show that their designs meet target performance criteria. This is often accomplished using Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostics Analysis (FMEDA), which relies on component data such as failure rates, failure modes distributions, and useful life. However, experienced engineers recognize that the accuracy of FMEDA results is dependent on the quality of the component reliability data employed. This paper examines a comprehensive, calibrated component reliability database that addresses the limitations of existing component reliability handbooks and databases.