Software in Medical Devices, by MD101 Consulting

To content | To menu | To search

Tag - software failure

Entries feed - Comments feed

Friday, 4 September 2020

FDA Guidance on Multiple Function Device Products

The FDA published in July the final version of the Guidance on Multiple Function Device Products. Despite the absence of the word "software" in the title, it addresses at first software medical devices. It also addresses hardware devices, but we will focus on software in this post.

Continue reading...

Friday, 27 June 2014

ISO/DIS 13485:2014 strengthens requirements about software - Part 2

Continuing with ISO/DIS 13485:2014, after having made an overview of software-related changes in the last article, let's focus on the new clause #4.1.6.

Continue reading...

Friday, 28 March 2014

Validation of compiler and IDE - Why, when and how to? - Part 2: compilers

We saw in the last post how to validate a software development tool. But we saw also that validating a compiler this way is not a satisfactory task.
Then: Why, when, and how to validate a compiler?

Continue reading...

Friday, 28 February 2014

Goto Fail

If you've haven't heard about Apple's security flaw registered as CVE-2014-1266 on apple website, you probably were on planet Mars.
Basically, it was unsafe to use https connections. I couldn't help but write an article about this!
Components dealing with secured connections are abolutely critical. Applying rigorous development process is the best chance to avoid any trouble with these components.

Continue reading...

Friday, 31 May 2013

Got SOUP? - Part 3 - Runtimes, Frameworks

We saw in the first article of this series, what is a SOUP and what is not a SOUP, according to IEC 62304.
Then we continued in the second article by having a look at OS's and drivers.
Let's now see how to deal with runtimes.

Continue reading...

Friday, 24 May 2013

Got SOUP? - Part 2 - OS, Drivers, Runtimes

We've seen in the last article, what is a SOUP and what is not a SOUP, according to IEC 62304.
We've also seen that a lot of 3rd party software are SOUPs, to begin with OS, drivers, runtimes, Just-In-Time (JIT) compilers and frameworks.
How to deal with those to be compliant with IEC 62304?

Continue reading...

Monday, 21 January 2013

Class A, B and C. Is it possible to reduce the documentation of detailed design of software medical devices?

In the last two posts, we've seen what a software unit is, and when to do software detailed design, according to IEC 62304 and FDA Guidances.

Continue reading...

Friday, 11 January 2013

What is a Software Unit?

IEC 62304 requires to split architecture of class C (mission critical) software into software items and software units. Software units are software items that can't be split into sub-items, according to the standard. Okay. But how to decide that an item can't be split into sub-items, and is a unit?

Continue reading...

Friday, 28 September 2012

Probability of occurence of a software failure

In two previous articles, I talked about the differences of bugs, software failures, and risks.
I left the discussion unfinished about the probability of occurence of a software failure or a defect.
I think that assessing the probability of occurence of a software failure is a hot subject. I've already seen many contradictory comments on this subject. It's also a hot subject for software manufacturers that are not well used to risk assessment.

Continue reading...

Friday, 14 September 2012

How to differenciate Bugs, Software Risks and Software Failures - Part 2

In my previous post about Bugs, Software Risks and Software Failures, I explained the concepts of bugs, defects or anomalies, and the concept of software failure.
Let's continue now with Risks.

Continue reading...

Friday, 7 September 2012

How to differenciate Bugs, Software Risks and Software Failures - Part 1

A bug can lead to a software failure.
Having bugs is a risk.
Having a software failure is a risk.
A software failure is not necessarily a bug!

Do you follow me?
If not, let me give you some more explanations.

Continue reading...