An evaluation and acceptance of COTS software for FPGA-based controllers in NPPS

•All direct/indirect COTS SW should be dedicated.•FPGA synthesis tools are important for the safety of new digital I&Cs.•No standards/reports are yet available to deal with the indirect SW – FPGA synthesis tools.•This paper proposes a new evaluation/acceptance process and criteria for indirect SW. FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) has received much attention from nuclear industry as an alternative platform of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)-based digital I&C (Instrumentation & Control). Software aspect of FPGA development encompasses several commercial tools such as logic synthesis and P&R (Place & Route), which should be first dedicated in accordance with domestic standards based on EPRI NP-5652. Even if a state-of-the-art supplementary EPRI TR-1025243 makes an effort, the dedication of indirect COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) SW such as FPGA logic synthesis tools has still caused a dispute. This paper proposes an acceptance process and evaluation criteria, specific to COTS SW, not commercial-grade direct items. It specifically incorporates indirect COTS SW and also provides categorized evaluation criteria for acceptance. It provides an explicit linkage between acceptance methods (Verification and Validation techniques) and evaluation criteria, too. We tried to perform the evaluation and acceptance process upon a commercial FPGA logic synthesis tool being used to develop a new FPGA-based digital I&C in Korea, and could confirm its applicability.