As Linux continues to be a key component in safety-related applications, Enabling Linux in Safety Applications (ELISA) is an open source project that aims to create a shared set of tools and processes to help companies build and certify Linux-based safetycritical applications and systems. Launched in February 2019, ELISA works with Linux kernel and safety communities to agree on what users should consider when using Linux in safety-critical systems.
In 2023, ELISA increased the technical resources created for the Linux community, including a Seminar Series of no-cost, on-demand videos that provide overviews of a special focus and project workshops for community members who are interested in advancing the milestones and goals of the project. The ELISA Seminar series hosted sessions that many organizations hosted, including Red Hat about an open source tool, tentatively named Basil, for tracing requirements, code, and tests; AMD about Xen safety certification; the Linux Foundation with AlektoMetis about automating adherence to safety profiles after fixing vulnerabilities; and the Boeing Company about DO-178C Level D certified Linux and NASA.
Two in-person workshops in Berlin and Munich brought together industry thought leaders and open source community members to discuss all safety-related issues, challenges, and next steps for the project. The project has several dedicated Working Groups (WGs) that provide resources for system integrators to apply and use to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze their systems:
- Aerospace WG is busy surveying aerospace’s state of the art on using Linux and the associated certification approach and equivalent Design Assurance Level and identifying the challenges to adopting Linux in aerospace and candidate use cases using Linux.
- Architecture WG is adopting the ks-nav tool set to implement and expand the STPA approach within the kernel.
- Linux Features WG analyzed the potential and challenges of real-time safety-critical systems and presented their work at the Embedded Open Source Summit.
- Medical Devices WG set out to discover the Linux kernel subsystems that OpenAPS used, shared key findings, and upstreamed the workload tracing guide.
- Open Source Engineering Process WG documented how to apply a safety analysis process based on STPA suitable for Linux and other OSS use.
- Systems WG shared the work on creating a reproducible example system consisting of Linux, Xen, and Zephyr on real hardware at the Linux Plumbers Conference.
- Tools WG has enabled Continuous Integration.
To kick off the new year, ELISA Working Group leads will be giving an annual update next week. The updates will include the following topics:
- A recap of milestones in 2023
- Current focus and activities
- What’s coming up in 2024 and areas and opportunities for collaboration
- Onboarding resources and how to get involved
This is a great opportunity to get up to speed with what each of the Working Group is working on and how you can participate and contribute this year. For more details and to register to attend please click here: https://elisa.tech/event/working-group-annual-updates/.