Verification, Validation, and Certification Issues of Safety-Critical Communication Systems—An Introduction by the Editor

In this paper, we study the effect of some of the features of safety-critical communication systems on the overall safety of a vehicle. Emphasis is placed on the effect of system complexity and tight coupling. A top-level functional model is developed to help evaluate the relative contribution of the features of safety-critical communication systems to overall system safety. Implications for the verification, validation, and certification of safety-critical communication systems are discussed.