The Vulkan SC 1.0 Final Specification Has Landed Safely
Launched March 1, 2022
Launched March 1, 2022
The release of the Vulkan SC 1.0 specification marks an important milestone in delivering a new generation of safety-critical APIs. Based on the Vulkan 1.2 API Vulkan SC meets the needs of safety-critical systems to leverage the performance of modern GPUs to satisfy their graphics and compute requirements.
The design of Vulkan SC gives safety-critical application developers detailed control of GPU acceleration in a way that can be rigorously specified and tested to meet safety certification standards such as RTCA DO-178C Level A / EASA ED-12C Level A (avionics); IEC 61508 (industrial), IEC 62304 (Medical), and ISO 26262 ASIL D (automotive).
Vulkan SC removes functionality from Vulkan 1.2 API that is not needed for safety-critical markets, increases the robustness of the specification by eliminating ignored parameters and undefined behaviors, and enables enhanced detection, reporting, and correction of run-time faults.
Additional information can be found in the blog post: Vulkan SC Overview - and how it is different from the Vulkan you already know.
“Vulkan 1.2’s modern design for explicit control over GPU resources was the ideal foundation for building this next-generation safety-critical GPU API that provides significantly increased performance and control over graphics and compute dataflows than was possible with OpenGL SC 2.0. Vulkan SC 1.0 enables detailed design and control of device scheduling, synchronization, and resource management, making it the ideal API for developing the next generation of safety-critical graphics and compute applications targeting modern GPUs.”
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The Vulkan SC Conformance Test Suite (CTS) is built upon the robust Vulkan CTS and provides an important tool for API implementers to exercise the completeness of their implementations. The rigorous CTS also assists system integrators to confirm specification compatibility while maximizing software portability and reuse across systems.
Conformant implementations are running today on:
Khronos welcomes any company creating safety-critical hardware or systems to implement and ship the Vulkan SC API. Implementors wanting to use the Vulkan SC name or logo in connection with and implementation and enjoy the protection of the Khronos Intellectual Property Framework should become a Vulkan SC Adopter. This requires passing the Conformance Tests and is independent from being a Khronos member.
There are several ways to follow the latest Vulkan SC developments, provide feedback on the specification, and get your questions answered. It's a great way to get involved and will help forge the Vulkan SC community and ecosystem.
Join Khronos. If you would like to participate directly in the ongoing development of the Vulkan SC standard please join Khronos and become a member of the Vulkan SC Working Group.
Khronos has close to 20 years experience in adapting mainstream APIs for safety critical markets. In 2005 OpenGL SC 1.0 defined a minimal subset of OpenGL ES 1.0 for easier certification to the DO-178B standard for avionics displays. When OpenGL ES 2.0 introduced programmable shaders, OpenGL SC 2.0 integrated that functionality for ISO 26262 certification for automotive displays. And now Khronos has defined a safety critical subset of Vulkan to create Vulkan SC.
The Vulkan SC Working Group works closely with the Khronos Safety-Critical Advisory Forum (KSCAF) which is open to any organization to join, with no charge or Khronos membership obligations. The KSCAF provides insight, best practises and feedback to help aid the design of safety-critical APIs across multiple domains, including avionics and automotive industries. Experienced practitioners in the field of safety critical system design are invited to apply for KSCAF membership.
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