Fault analysis in analog circuits through language manipulation and abstraction

Each year automotive systems are becoming smarter thanks to their enhancement with sensing, actuation and computation features. The recent advancements in the field of autonomous driving have increased even more the complexity of the electronic components used to provide such services. ISO 26262 represents the natural response to the growing concerns in terms of the functional safety of electrical safety-related systems in this area. However, if the functional safety analysis of digital devices is quite a stable methodology, the same analysis for analog components is still in its infancy. This paper aims to explore the problem of fault analysis in analog circuits and how it can be integrated into the design processes with minimum effort. The methodology is based on analog language manipulation, analog fault instrumentation and automatic abstraction. An efficient and comprehensive flow for performing such an activity is proposed and applied to complex case studies.