With a highly scalable and certified safety construction kit, Neuron Automation provides its customers with a complete portfolio for creating functionally safe control components - from hardware and firmware to application engineering. Combined with comprehensive development services, the modular system makes it possible to implement engineering projects from the idea to certification with a short time-to-market and within the agreed budget - and thus offers long-term investment protection.

In the area of hardware components, the modular system includes powerful platforms for safe sensors, actuators and controllers. The range is supplemented by designs for digital inputs and outputs, analog inputs and encoder interfaces. Various firmware solutions are also included, including the FSoE host/device stack for safe communication between devices using the FSoE protocol and the SIC (Safety Integrated Core), which provides the firmware core for a safe device. In addition, the modular system has applications for CPU and memory tests (Test Library Cora), the realization of safety motion functions (Safety Motion Library) and the calculation with floating point numbers with single or double precision (Floating Point Library). In addition, the Hardware Abstraction Layer also provides a solution for firmware connection to the respective hardware architecture.

All elements of the modular system are pre-certified as compliant items in accordance with IEC61508. © Neuron Automation

All elements of the modular system are pre-certified as compliant items in accordance with IEC61508. The portfolio is rounded off by the Neuron Power Engineer and Neuron Smart Engineer development environments, which, in combination with the RTS safe runtime systems, enable fast, flexible and efficient programming of functionally safe control applications.

Neuron Automation is also pursuing a completely new engineering concept: application and safety applications are systematically linked from the outset - both in the hardware and in the engineering tools required for control programming. The usual separation between safe and non-safe applications is thus eliminated.

At the heart of this concept is an industry- and platform-independent multi-language development environment that creates the basis for effective and flexible control programming. The development environment has a modular structure and can be flexibly expanded. It is available either as desktop software or as a browser-based solution, enabling developers to collaborate in global teams from any location. The software can be operated standalone or deeply integrated into existing engineering tools. Application engineering is supported in all relevant IEC61131-3 standard languages (FBD, LD, SFC, ST), but also in C and C++ as well as other IT languages. The runtime, which is certified up to SIL3, is extremely scalable and supports all hardware platforms, from microcontrollers to multi-core industrial PCs.

Faster thanks to pre-certified safety toolchain

Visit Neuron Automation during SPS 2025 © Computers&Automation

In order to be able to program the safety functions in parallel with the applications, a pre-certified safety toolchain is integrated, which supports the engineering of safety functions up to level SIL 3 according to IEC61508, PLe according to ISO13849 and ASIL C according to ISO26262. In addition to the certified runtime system, the central components of this toolchain are a static code analysis and a two-stage test manager, with which developed safety function blocks are first tested in a simulation environment ('software-in-the-loop') and then in the actual target environment ('processor-in-the-loop') and released after a successful test run. As the entire toolchain is already pre-certified, subsequent adjustments to the safety functions do not have to be re-certified, which significantly speeds up the initial creation and ongoing changes to the applications. The software modules created in this way can then be made available to technicians without in-depth programming knowledge via special safety libraries. The modules are assembled very simply via an intuitive graphical user interface in low-code mode - the use of typical PLC programming languages is not required. This supports engineering processes based on the division of labor and can also help to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers.

Engineering 'in time' and 'in budget'

Thanks to work-sharing processes, certified toolchains and pre-programmed function modules, manufacturers can quickly achieve functionally safe applications and products and also ensure the necessary degree of flexibility with a view to future developments. There is no need to separate functional and secure applications. Broad scaling options also make it possible to implement both standardized and individual automation solutions with a short time-to-market.

As part of joint development, Neuron solutions are also continuously developed in close cooperation with customers. The company sees itself as a strategic partner that provides device manufacturers and OEMs with long-term support in the implementation of automation solutions. In addition to hardware and software development services, Neuron Automation also enables customers to develop their own solutions based on its modular safety system of pre-certified components. Users can therefore face the growing cost pressure and ever shorter innovation cycles in industrial production with confidence.