Issues in tool qualification for safety-critical hardware: What formal approaches can and cannot do

Abstract

Technology has improved to the point that system designers have the ability to trade-off implementing complex functions in either hardware or software. However, clear distinctions exist in the design tools. This paper examines what is unique to hardware design, areas where formal methods can be applied to advantage in hardware design and how errors can exist in the hardware even if formal methods are used to prove the design is correct. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.