Parallel processing: a safer option for real-time control software

Software is increasingly being used to control applications demanding high performance and high reliability. Modern parallel processing technologies can offer systems designers many advances towards satisfying these requirements. This paper considers whether the current software safety standards, and the methods they advocate, are sufficiently mature to reach this objective. A particular example of a parallel development method derived from formal mathematics is explored. The aim is to identify both a pragmatic and intuitive development method suitable to control systems applications. This method should permit a fair degree of automation of a control system's behaviour analysis necessary to establish a safe parallel implementation.