An embedded system for safe, secure and reliable execution of high consequence software

As more complex and functionally diverse requirements are placed on high consequence embedded applications, ensuring safe and secure operation requires an ultra-reliable execution environment. The selection of an embedded processor and its development environment has the most far-reaching effects on the production of the system than any other element in the design. This choice ripples through the remainder of the hardware design and profoundly affects the entire software development process. Experience indicates an object oriented (OO) methodology provides a superior development environment. However, embedded programming languages do not directly support OO techniques. Furthermore, the processors themselves do not support nor enforce an OO environment. This paper describes a system level architecture for an object aware processor targeted at high consequence embedded applications.