April 13, 2014- For those of you who wish to know and understand more about Functional Safety, Safety Integrity Level (SIL) and associated stuff, there are basically four ways to do it. Here is a lsit of them with their associated advantages and disadvantages:
a) Surf the web- just like you likely found this page while searching for terms like SIL or Functional Safety. There will be hundreds or even thousands or articles than range from the fairly easy to understand to the completely complex ones which may leave you gasping for breath (or bored enough to go to sleep). Also the variety and scope will be mind boggling. You will learn all the jargon though...to impress your friends who have no idea about SIL or Functional Safety.
b) Read a book. There are a few about Functional Safety & SIL. None of them covers everything though, so you will have to buy at least three of them to learn anything of value. Of course even if you read them and understand the concepts, you will have nothing in your hand that proves to the world that you know your stuff!
c) Download the Safety Instrumented Systems e-learning course from Abhisam, that covers everything about SIL and Functional Safety in one, short, easy to understand course. There are several animations and simulations that explain key concepts and make this difficult to understand subject very easy to learn. Besides you can take their online exam and get a Certificate of Competency too, on passing!
