Abstract
This paper presents a general approach and techniques for design and verification of Field Programmable Gates Arrays (FPGA)-based Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems for Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). Appropriate regulatory documents used for I&C systems design, development, verification and validation (V&V) are discussed considering the latest international standards and guidelines. Typical development and V&V processes of FPGA electronic design for FPGA-based NPP I&C systems are presented. Some safety-related features of implementation process are discussed. Corresponding development artifacts, related to design and implementation activities are outlined. An approach to test-based verification of FPGA electronic design algorithms, used in FPGA-based reactor trip systems is proposed. The results of application of test-based techniques for assessment of FPGA electronic design algorithms for reactor trip system (RTS) produced by Research and Production Corporation (RPC) "Radiy" are presented. Some principles of invariant-oriented verification for FPGA-based safety-critical systems are outlined.
