The Client
Founded in 1991 and based in Bengaluru, India, G.G.Tronics is pursuing a vision to be a leading supplier of design, development, manufacturing, testing and commissioning to the Guided Transport Systems (GTS) sector. Now part of the M/s. Nippon Signal Co. Ltd. of Japan, G.G.Tronics is ISO 9001:2015 certified and approved by the Indian Railways’ Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO).
The Project
G.G.Tronics’ latest product is MSDAC-G39, a Multi Section Digital Axle Counter. A fail-safe, reliable and userfriendly 2 out of 3 architecture-based design, MSDAC-G39 meets the SIL4 integrity level defined by the EN5012X series of standards and is compliant with RDSO/SPN/176/2013 Ver 3.0. Its software safety functions include axle counting and comparing entry and exit counts to confirm that an entire train has left a section. A software failure here could result in an axle counter driving its vital output with a train still occupying the track section, potentially permitting another train to enter the same section with life threating consequences.
The Decision
Although the EN 5012X standards do not insist on the use of automated test tools, in practical terms it is the sensible route.
Mr. Rajganesh Marappan, Software Quality Manager of G.G.Tronics, explained the decision to deploy the LDRA tool suite. “TUV approval was important to us” he said.
“Seeking a similar level of assurance without it represents a major overhead. LDRA tools are approved by TÜV SÜD and SGS-TÜV Saar for safety related development in accordance with EN 50128, right up to SIL 4.”
“A wonderful evaluation experience supported by a team of software verification and validation experts underpinned our confidence in LDRA.”
The decision proved to be well founded. “The completeness of the LDRA tool suite and the skillset of the LDRA support team have helped us to achieve EN 50128 SIL 4 certification for our systems” Rajganesh went on.
The Future
“Whatever the future holds for G.G.Tronics, it seems certain that LDRA will be involved. “The priority for MSDAC-G39 was for functional safety, but we will soon need to consider cybersecurity too. The TBmanager component of the LDRA tool suite is capable of concurrently tracing IEC 62443 and EN 50128 objectives to source code and test cases. And LDRA have successfully demonstrated that the tool suite is configurable to support multiple embedded environments” Rajganesh concluded.
