elisaproject – ELISA

Apr 29

ELISA Lighthouse SIG – Annual Update (February 12, 2026) | Philipp Ahmann, ETAS

Recap of ELISA Lighthouse SIG – Annual Update (February 12, 2026)

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog, Technical Update, Working Group

On February 11–12, the ELISA Project community gathered for the 2026 Working Group (WG) and Special Interest Group (SIG) Annual Updates. Over two focused sessions, group leads shared key milestones from 2025, current technical priorities, and what lies ahead in 2026, along with concrete opportunities for collaboration and contribution.

The annual updates serve as a checkpoint for the project: a moment to reflect on progress, align on priorities, and welcome new contributors into the work of advancing Linux in safety-critical systems.

This week we highlight the session on ELISA Lighthouse Special Interests Group presented by Philipp Ahmann, ETAS.

The Lighthouse SIG focuses on best practices for open source software in safety-critical systems. Philipp explained that many existing quality and safety standards were designed for proprietary software development, while open source communities often work through code-first, CI-driven, and agile processes. The group is exploring how established open source practices can be evaluated, documented, and eventually shaped into guidance or a standard that regulated industries can use.

In 2025, the SIG worked to understand the current landscape. The group reviewed existing safety, quality, and security standards, conducted literature research, and began assessing open source projects. Early work included creating a template to evaluate process robustness and evidence confidence across different criteria. Initial project assessments included Yocto, Xen, and LLVM, with plans to expand to projects such as Linux, curl, and OpenSSL.

The session also highlighted collaboration with other communities, including Eclipse automotive efforts, CHAOSS, OpenSSF Scorecard, LFX Insights, OpenSSF Best Practices, OpenChain, and the Joint Development Foundation. The goal is to avoid duplication, learn from existing work, and align with broader open source and standards communities.

Looking ahead to 2026, the Lighthouse SIG plans to refine its maturity model, review more projects, evaluate existing badges and scorecards, and continue preparing for possible standards work. The group is also exploring how to define and measure quality in open source projects more clearly.

Philipp closed by inviting new contributors to join the Lighthouse SIG. The group meets every other Friday and welcomes participation through its meetings, mailing list, Discord channel, GitHub repository, and meeting minutes.

Watch the full session to learn how the Lighthouse SIG is progressing and how you can get involved.

Apr 22

ELISA Project - BASIL & Tools Working Group Evolution – Annual Update (Feb 12, 2026)

Recap of BASIL and Tools Working Group Evolution – Annual Update (Feb 12, 2026)

By elisaproject Blog, Technical Update, Working Group

This week we highlight the session on BASIL & Tools Working Group Evolution.

In this session from the ELISA Project Annual Updates, Luigi Pellecchia presents a recap of the BASIL tool’s development in 2025 and outlines planned directions for 2026. BASIL is described as a collaborative, web-based tool for traceability management, supporting multi-user environments, granular permissions, and detailed relationships between code, requirements, and test artifacts. It also integrates with internal and external test infrastructures and provides multiple export formats, including SPDX, HTML, and PDF.

The 2025 update highlights incremental improvements across the year, including enhancements to AI-assisted features, user experience refinements, support for importing external work items, and expanded browser compatibility. Infrastructure improvements include container optimization, security fixes, integration with additional testing frameworks, and the introduction of API code coverage monitoring. A major architectural change was the migration from SQLite to PostgreSQL to better support concurrent usage.

A key development in late 2025 is the introduction of “traceability as code,” an initial proposal to define traceability relationships through configuration files, enabling connections between distributed artifacts such as source code, test cases, and test results across different repositories and systems.

Looking ahead to 2026, planned efforts include extending traceability features (e.g., linking test results), introducing baseline snapshots of traceability states, improving test coverage, and continuing iterative development based on community feedback. The session also highlights available resources such as a public BASIL instance, documentation, and communication channels, and encourages community participation in both BASIL and the broader Tools Working Group.

Overall, the session focuses on the progress, ongoing development, and open collaboration around tooling to support traceability in safety-critical Linux environments.

Apr 15

Recap – ELISA Aerospace Working Group – ELISA Project – Annual Update (Feb 12, 2026)

By elisaproject Blog, Working Group

This session, part of the ELISA Project Working Group & SIG Annual Updates, was presented by Matthew Weber (The Boeing Company) and co-led with Dr. Martin Hall. It provides an overview of the Aerospace Working Group’s progress in 2025 and outlines priorities for 2026.

The Aerospace Working Group focuses on advancing the adoption of Linux in safety-critical aerospace and space systems by addressing technical, process, and certification challenges through collaboration and shared best practices.

Key Highlights from 2025

Strong and consistent community engagement, with diverse participation from industry, academia, and government
Introduction of a weekly technical call to develop reference demos and use cases, leading to increased contributions (code, documentation, and examples)
Completion of the cabin lights demo, a foundational reference system demonstrating safety-relevant behavior and validation concepts
Extension of the demo using NASA Core Flight System (cFS), incorporating telemetry, monitoring, and auto-generated safety checks
Development of a product classification template to characterize aerospace and space systems by safety level and system attributes
Collaboration with other ELISA groups (e.g., Systems WG) on reference architectures and cross-domain concepts such as mixed-criticality systems
Progress in industry papers and research contributions, including submission to the Digital Avionics Systems Conference

Focus Areas and Priorities for 2026

Expanding system and product classification models (including NASA-class systems)
Enhancing and scaling reference demos and baseline system studies
Strengthening collaboration with the Space Grade Linux initiative
Advancing industry papers and formal publications
Continuing improvements in tooling, CI environments, and documentation processes

Opportunities for Collaboration

Open monthly and weekly meetings covering general topics, demos, and paper development
Active contribution areas including demos, documentation, linting, and research
Engagement via GitHub, mailing lists, and community channels

This session highlighted how the Aerospace Working Group is building practical artifacts, frameworks, and collaborative momentum to enable Linux in safety-critical aerospace environments, while inviting broader participation from the community. To learn more watch the session here.

Apr 01

ELISA Seminar – From Requirements to Code: Managing End-to-End Traceability with BASIL - recap blog

ELISA Seminar – Recap Notes – From Requirements to Code: Managing End-to-End Traceability with BASIL

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog

This seminar explores BASIL, an open source requirements and traceability management tool under the ELISA Project. BASIL enables teams to connect specifications, requirements, test artifacts, documentation and source code using flexible traceability matrices while integrating with existing test infrastructures. In this session, Luigi Pellecchia, BASIL Maintainer and member of the ELISA Project Technical Steering Committee, presents how BASIL supports end-to-end traceability from requirements to code, improves collaboration and governance through role-based permissions, traceability-as-code, and AI-driven workflow guidance, and helps teams manage software quality evidence in a collaborative environment.

The session includes a live demonstration of BASIL, showcasing its web-based architecture, deployment options, and how users can create, map, and manage work items such as requirements, test specifications, and test cases. It also highlights integration with test management tools, external CI systems, and APIs, along with features for importing data, exporting traceability matrices, and automating workflows. The seminar further introduces advanced capabilities such as repository scanning and building traceability from distributed project assets, illustrating how BASIL can support complex, real-world development environments.

Learn more about BASIL.

Mar 27

What to expect from the ELISA Project at Open Source Summit 2026 – North America

By elisaproject Blog, Critical Software Summit, ELISA Summit, Industry Conference, Safety-Critical Software Summit

Open Source Summit is the premier event for open source developers and contributors. It’s where maintainers, technologists, and community leaders come together to share knowledge, collaborate on solutions, and push open source projects forward. It’s the home for code, community, and the people driving the future of open source.

A Cross-Domain Home for the Entire Open Source Ecosystem

Open Source Summit is not a single-focus, niche event—it’s the big tent that unites the full spectrum of open source technologies and communities. Whether you work in cloud infrastructure, Linux kernel development, AI/ML, embedded systems, DevOps, security, or safety-critical systems, Open Source Summit offers a shared space to exchange ideas, make connections, and learn across domains. It’s where technologists who don’t typically land in the same room get a chance to collaborate.

At the same time, Open Source Summit brings in the leaders and practitioners who support the ecosystem from non-technical angles: open source program office (OSPO) staff, legal experts, policy advocates, standards organizations, equity champions, community managers, and foundation leaders. Together, they help shape the frameworks, culture, and strategy that make open source work.

A Strategic Gathering for Open Source’s Future

This event serves as a strategic checkpoint for the open source movement. It’s where conversations happen about not only what’s being built—but how and why. From sustainability and funding models to licensing, AI alignment, security, and governance, Open Source Summit brings clarity and direction to a fast-changing open source landscape.

Whether you’re deep in code or focused on enabling the communities and structures that support it, this is where your work gains momentum and impact.

Safety Critical Software Track:

The ELISA Project will be part of the safety track that explores the intersection of open source and safety standards, covering best practices for regulatory compliance, security updates, and safety engineering. Sessions will delve into requirements traceability, quality assessments, safety analysis methodologies, and technical development for safety-critical systems.

Session Highlights:BoF: Space Grade Linux: From Incubation to Foundation – Ramón Roche & Kate Stewart, The Linux Foundation

Monday May 18, 2026 5:25pm – 6:05pm CDT

SGL is graduating from ELISA incubation and launching as its own foundation. This BoF is a working discussion on three things: the structure of the new Technical Advisory Council, the near-term roadmap emerging from our mailing list, and where attendees want to plug in. New faces and long-time contributors equally welcome. Bring questions, bring priorities, bring pushback.

Software Supply Chain Management With the Yocto Project – Joshua Watt, Garmin

Wednesday May 20, 2026 11:00am – 11:40am CDT

Managing software supply chains is an important part of safety critical software. In this talk, Joshua will describe the technologies, methods and lessons learned that the embedded software space uses to manage software supply chains using the Yocto project.

The Final Phase of Xen Safety: Solving Coverage and Residual Gaps – Stefano Stabellini, AMD

Wednesday May 20, 2026 11:55am – 12:35pm CDT

AMD, in collaboration with the Xen community, continues to advance efforts to make the Xen hypervisor safety-certifiable to ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL 3. The project has progressed from Safety Concept Approval toward the final certification phase.

This presentation will share practical lessons learned, including how we structure requirements and architecture specification documents to make them easier to review for Open Source experts. It will describe the tools and processes we use to maintain end-to-end traceability and explain how we leverage GitLab to automate requirements-based testing and verification pipelines.

We will also address the remaining challenges on the path to completion, including code coverage and FMEA. In particular, we will explain why achieving comprehensive code coverage is uniquely challenging for a widely used Open Source project such as Xen and outline the strategies we are applying to meet 100% code coverage targets.

Finally, we will describe our approach to FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and how it evolved to better align with existing upstream Xen failure-handling practices.

From Pull Request To Patient Safety: How Tidepool Built an Open-Source Quality Management System – Tapani Otala, Tidepool

Wednesday May 20, 2026 2:10pm – 2:50pm CDT

When software can directly affect whether someone lives or dies, “move fast and break things” isn’t an option. But does that mean safety-critical software can’t be open source? Tidepool’s experience building Tidepool Loop – an FDA-cleared, open-source automated insulin delivery (AID) system for people with Type 1 diabetes – proves it can.

This talk explores how Tidepool developed an open-source quality management system (QMS) that achieves full requirements traceability and testability while preserving the collaborative, transparent ethos of open-source development. We’ll walk through the real-world challenges of mapping regulatory requirements to code contributions, maintaining traceability across a distributed contributor base, and building test infrastructure that satisfies both FDA expectations and open-source community standards.

Attendees will leave with a practical framework for applying requirements traceability and verification practices to open-source projects operating in regulated or safety-critical domains from medical devices to automotive systems to critical infrastructure.

Standardizing Deterministic Interoperability and Resource-Intelligent Design in Medical Robotics – Lilinoe Harbottle, San Jose State University

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:05pm – 3:45pm CDT

In medical robotics, innovation can be bottlenecked by vertically integrated architectures that contribute to medical “deserts” due to high costs and limited interoperability. This session explores architectural frameworks for standardizing deterministic interoperability, shifting the safety burden from non-transparent hardware to auditable software logic. By establishing these standards, this work ensures that clinical technology is not restricted by fixed vendor-lock.

Through a methodology of high-precision kinematic verification and deterministic mapping, open-source code becomes the catalyst for hardware autonomy. This approach ensures sub-millisecond reliability in the operating room while promoting lifecycle sustainability through vendor-neutral middleware.

Attendees will learn about the implementation of safety-operated envelopes and clinical validation models that facilitate reproducible research and lower barriers to local manufacturing. By prioritizing architectural transparency over closed-loop frameworks, this session outlines a path toward a more sustainable and accessible future for global healthcare.

Modernizing Software Verification – Craig Christianson, United States Air Force

Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:20pm – 5:00pm CDT

In this session, Craig will discuss the importance of verifying safety-critical software by giving real-world examples of peoples’ lives who were saved or put at risk by software. He will share the compliance challenges faced by software engineers working on safety-critical software. He will give a brief overview of software assurance requirements for safety-critical systems and show how formal methods and automated reasoning are accelerating and improving the assurance process. He will give a brief introduction to automated reasoning tools and semantics, and will share success stories from a handful of open-source projects who are using these methods to reach assurance goals faster. Craig will finish by walking the audience through the design of a simple demonstration project that utilizes these technologies.

Learn more about the sessions and register for the event. Register for $699 with code SPRING and save over 40%.

Mar 06

What to Expect from the ELISA Project at Embedded World Exhibition & Conference 2026

What to Expect from the ELISA Project at Embedded World 2026

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog, Industry Conference

The ELISA Project will be participating in the upcoming Embedded World Exhibition & Conference, taking place March 10–12, 2026 at Messezentrum Nürnberg, Germany.

Established in 2003, Embedded World has become one of the most important annual gatherings for the global embedded systems community. The event combines a large industry exhibition with a world-class conference program that bridges applied research and real-world industrial applications.

For the ELISA Project community, this event offers an opportunity to connect with engineers, researchers, and organizations working to enable safe use of Linux in safety-critical systems.

ELISA at Embedded World 2026

At this year’s event, the ELISA Project will engage with attendees through:

A conference session discussing approaches for assessing the safe usage of Linux
On-site discussions with ELISA ambassadors and community members
Opportunities to connect with companies building Linux-based safety-critical systems

If you are developing systems where safety, reliability, and open source intersect, this is a great chance to learn more about how the ELISA Project is advancing safety practices around Linux.

Conference Session: Assessing Safe Usage of Linux

A key highlight will be a talk by Kate Stewart from the Linux Foundation.

Approaches on Assessing Safe Usage of Linux

📅 March 10, 2026
⏱ 11:30 (30 minutes)

Linux has become one of the most widely used operating systems across industries—from deeply embedded devices in automotive, aerospace, and medical systems to servers powering global financial infrastructure.

While there are established mechanisms for maintaining and distributing security updates, the question remains:

After applying fixes and updates, how can we demonstrate that a Linux-based system is still safe to use in regulated environments?

In this session, Kate Stewart will explore:

Current approaches within the ELISA Project to evaluate Linux in the context of functional safety
Methods to support analysis and verification of Linux-based systems
Opportunities for automation and collaboration across the ecosystem
Emerging best practices for organizations building safety-critical Linux systems

The talk will provide insight into how the community is working to make Linux viable for safety-certified environments.

Learn more about the Embedded World Conference here.

Meet the ELISA Community

In addition to the conference session, several ELISA Project ambassadors and contributors will be attending Embedded World, including: Philipp Ahmann — ETAS GmbH, Nicole Pappler – Alektometis, Simone Weiß — Linutronix along with many other members of the ELISA Project ecosystem.

They will be available throughout the event to discuss:

The ELISA Project’s mission and roadmap
Collaboration opportunities
Safety practices for Linux-based systems
How organizations can participate in the project

Let’s Connect

If you are attending Embedded World and already working on Linux-based safety-critical applications, or interested in learning more about the ELISA Project and its goals for 2026 we encourage you to connect with the team during the event.

You can:

Reach out directly to ELISA ambassadors onsite
Or contact the project team (info@elisa.tech) to schedule a meeting

Embedded World is a fantastic opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from industry leaders, and explore how open source and safety engineering can evolve together. See you there!

Mar 04

What do you mean when you say…?

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog

This blog post “What Do You Mean When You Say…?” Introducing the ELISA Glossary for Safety-Critical Open Source” was written by Simone Weiss, Linutronix.

You’re reading a blog post, and three sentences in, you encounter a term and wonder, “What does the author mean when they say that?” You could research it, but you keep reading, telling yourself, “I’ll figure it out later.” We’ve all been there.

The world of embedded and safety-critical open source uses specific terms that can make it hard to understand what’s meant. That’s why we created the ELISA Glossary—a single place for all those terms.

Take a look at the glossary here:
https://directory.elisa.tech/glossary/index.html

What Is the ELISA Glossary?

The ELISA Glossary is a collection of definitions for terms that frequently come up in the ELISA project. Each entry tries to provide not just the theoretical meaning but also the way of how it’s used within ELISA.

You’ll find definitions covering:

Safety and certification concepts
Embedded and real-time software terms
Open-source processes and tools
Standards, specifications, and compliance-related language

The glossary is useful for things like:

Reading an ELISA blog post and needing a quick refresher
Joining a new working group and encountering unfamiliar terms
Ensuring consistent language across documents and discussions

The glossary is work in progress. As tools evolve, standards shift, and best practices change, the glossary will continue to grow. We rely on community feedback – if there’s a term you think should be added or a definition that needs refinement, let us know!

Why the Glossary?

The ELISA Project brings together engineers, safety experts, and organizations working on Linux-based safety-critical systems. This diverse mix of industry, standards, and technical backgrounds is one of ELISA’s strengths—but it also means we use a language that’s not always obvious to newcomers, occasional contributors, or even long-time members diving into new topics.

Since ELISA began, we’ve created:

Technical documentation
Working group deliverables
Presentations

Certain terms pop up again and again, which is where the ELISA Glossary comes in—to help make those terms easier to understand, reference, and use consistently.

Explore the ELISA Glossary

https://directory.elisa.tech/glossary/index.html

Clear language may not solve all the challenges in safety-critical software, but it sure makes collaboration easier.

Feb 26

Enabling Linux in Safety Applications (ELISA) Project Expands Premier Membership with NVIDIA

By elisaproject Announcement, Blog, News

SAN FRANCISCO, February 26, 2026 – Today, the ELISA (Enabling Linux in Safety Applications) Project announced that NVIDIA has joined as a Premier member and will contribute to advancing the use of Linux in safety-critical and regulated systems. Hosted by the Linux Foundation, ELISA is an open source initiative focused on creating a shared set of elements, processes, and tools to help companies develop and certify Linux-based safety-critical applications and systems.

As software-defined and AI-enabled systems become increasingly central to industries such as automotive, robotics, industrial automation and aerospace, ensuring the safety, reliability, and compliance of Linux-based platforms is more important than ever.

“Linux plays a foundational role in modern, software-defined systems, including those that must meet stringent safety requirements,” said Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation. “NVIDIA’s leadership in accelerated computing, AI, and software platforms brings deep technical expertise to the ELISA community. Their engagement will help drive forward scalable, safety-focused approaches to using Linux in increasingly complex systems.”

NVIDIA joins existing premier members Boeing and Redhat.

ELISA Project General Members include AISIN, arm, Bosch, Canonical, Codethink, Elektrobit, EMQ, Honda, Huawei, Linutronix, Lynx Software Technologies, Nissan Motor Corporation and WindRiver. Associate members Automotive Grade Linux, KernelCI, Institute of Aircraft Systems Engineering and The Regensburg University of Applied Sciences. Learn more about membership here.

Safety-Critical Software

Open Source Summit North America, scheduled for May 18-20 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will host a Safety-Critical Software track that features technical sessions, case studies, and cross-industry collaboration initiatives presented by ELISA Project members, ambassadors and contributors. Register here for early-bird pricing by March 24.

About the Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, OpenChain, OpenSSF, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, Zephyr, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org. The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks.

For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

For more information:

Maemalynn Meanor

The Linux Foundation

Feb 25

Recap of ELISA Working Group and Special Interest Group Annual Updates 2026

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog, Working Group

The first day opened with an ELISA Project overview from Technical Steering Committee Chair Philipp Ahmann (ETAS), highlighting overall progress and reinforcing ELISA’s mission to define and maintain common elements, processes, and tools that support safety certification for Linux-based systems.

The first day highlighted progress across ELISA’s core Working Groups:

Open Source Engineering Process – Paul Albertella (Codethink) shared updates on process alignment and best practices to support safety certification efforts.

Systems and Automotive – Philipp Ahmann discussed advancements in aligning Linux with functional safety requirements for automotive and system-level applications.

Safety Architecture – Gabriele Paoloni (Red Hat) presented ongoing architectural work supporting safety use cases.

Linux Features for Safety-Critical Systems – Alessandro Carminati (NVIDIA) outlined kernel and feature-level progress enabling dependable Linux deployments.

The second day focused on use-case driven Working Groups and SIGs:

Aerospace – Matthew Weber (The Boeing Company) shared updates on Linux in aerospace systems.

Space Grade Linux – Ramon Roche (The Linux Foundation) discussed the evolution of Space Grade Linux and its relationship with ELISA.

BASIL & Tools WG Evolution – Luigi Pellecchia (Red Hat) highlighted progress in tooling and traceability efforts.

Lighthouse SIG – Philipp Ahmann provided insights into cross-domain collaboration and coordination.

The event concluded with closing reflections and a forward-looking discussion on collaboration opportunities in 2026.

Continuing the Work

The WG & SIG Annual Updates are more than a status review, they are a coordination point for the year ahead. As Linux adoption in safety-critical systems continues to expand across automotive, aerospace, industrial, and emerging domains, ELISA remains committed to open collaboration, practical tooling, and shared technical foundations.

Thank you to all speakers, contributors, and attendees who helped make the 2026 updates a success.

We look forward to another year of advancing Linux in safety-critical environments together.

Jan 28

ELISA Project at FOSDEM 2026: Advancing Open Source in Safety-Critical Systems

By elisaproject Ambassadors, Blog, Industry Conference

As open source software continues to move deeper into safety-critical systems, FOSDEM provides a unique space for the conversations that need to happen between developers, safety engineers, maintainers, and industry stakeholders. For the Enabling Linux in Safety Applications (ELISA) project, FOSDEM 2026 is an opportunity to engage directly with the open source community, share practical progress, and collaborate on the challenges of using Linux in systems where failure can have serious consequences.

ELISA’s mission is to make it easier for organizations to build and certify Linux-based safety-critical applications systems whose failure could result in loss of human life, significant property damage, or environmental harm. By bringing these discussions to FOSDEM, ELISA helps connect real-world safety and certification needs with the developers and projects building the software at the core of these systems.

What ELISA Is Working On

ELISA brings together companies, developers, and safety experts to define and maintain a shared set of tools, processes, and best practices that help organizations demonstrate that Linux-based systems can meet functional safety requirements. Rather than positioning Linux as a standalone “safety solution,” ELISA focuses on how Linux can be used as a component within safety-critical systems, supported by appropriate system-level mitigations, documentation, and evidence.

A key part of this work is collaboration with certification authorities and standardization bodies across multiple industries. By engaging early and openly, ELISA helps clarify expectations around certification pathways, safety arguments, and compliance, reducing uncertainty for both developers and assessors. This approach enables reuse, transparency, and consistency across domains such as automotive, aerospace, railways, industrial automation, and medical systems.

ELISA at FOSDEM 2026

FOSDEM 2026 offers an ideal environment to continue these conversations. As a free, community-driven event that brings together thousands of open source developers from around the world, it allows ELISA to connect directly with the people building and maintaining the software used in safety-critical products.

Throughout the weekend, ELISA Project Ambassadors will be actively participating across the event giving talks, joining technical discussions, and engaging with contributors in multiple developer rooms. Attendees can also meet the ELISA team at the Linux Foundation Europe stand (Building K, Level 2, Group A), where they will be available to discuss ongoing work, community activities, and ways to get involved in the project.

Several members of the ELISA Technical Steering Committee (TSC) will be present as well, providing an opportunity for in-depth conversations around safety concepts, certification challenges, and cross-industry collaboration.

Session Highlight:

Code, Compliance, and Confusion: Open Source in Safety-Critical Products

This talk examines the growing use of open source software in functionally safe systems, including platforms such as Linux, Zephyr, Xen, and automotive middleware. It looks at both the progress made in recent years and the persistent barriers to adoption, from certification uncertainty and fragmented governance to common misunderstandings around safety responsibility and system architecture. Learn more.

BOF/Unconference

In addition to talks, ELISA-related topics will be discussed in Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions, which offer a more informal space for discussion and idea exchange.

One BoF will focus on Linux & Open Source Software for safety applications in Railways, exploring how large-scale reuse and collaborative development can support the sector’s growing software needs while meeting strict safety requirements. The discussion will also consider whether there is sufficient momentum to form a foundation-backed initiative to support OSS adoption in railways.

Another BoF, Safety-Critical Linux: Challenges across industries, will bring together participants from automotive, aerospace, medical devices, robotics, and rail. The session will explore shared challenges such as documentation, tooling, certification, and system design, and identify opportunities where cross-industry collaboration could reduce duplication and improve outcomes.

Join the Conversation at FOSDEM

FOSDEM 2026 is an opportunity to move beyond theory and engage in practical, technical discussions about open source in safety-critical systems. Whether you are building software, assessing safety cases, or defining certification strategies, ELISA invites you to take part in the conversations, meet the community, and help shape how Linux and open source software are used in systems that demand the highest levels of trust and reliability.

We look forward to connecting with you in Brussels.