Mr. Somnath Pal of Indian Railways (Retired)

The resource person has explained about various issues of Safety Critical Software, Conventional Testing methods Confidence, Competency, Audited, Assurance and Testing importance, Safety software Development process, ISV&V mechanisms, Technical Independence, Managerial Independence, Financial Independence, Contractual Independence, ISV&V Customer’s responsibilities and assumptions, International Safety Critical Software Guidelines (Standards), Documentation Standards through IEEE, Quality Attributes, Goals and Safety Software Validation Metrics.

Biography:

Present Chair, IEEE Reliability Society, Hyderabad and Member of safety culture Working Group, UK. Fellow of Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, London, UK, Sr. Member IEEE, Certified Software Test Manager (CSTM) and Certified Software Quality Planner (CSQP).

Experiences in Railways

Telecommunication Inspector in South Eastern Railway (1970 to 1990), Faculty, Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering & Telecommunications as Instructor (1990 to 1993).

Lecturer (1993 to 1997) and    Asst. Professor (1997 to 2007),

Experience after retirement from Indian Railways in November 2007:

• RAMS Manager Radharani Rail Engineering Systems (RRES) (2011 to 2013. Was associated with M/s L & T to Review Documents for RAMS Management in Signalling & Train Control for the construction of Hyderabad Metro Railway. Specifically reviewed Tender documents, Interfacing with other Sub-systems and comparison of offered Solutions. Was also Associated with Telecommunications and RAMS Training for Staff of RRES.
• Associated with RAMS Training for Special Course on RAMS Engineering, conducted by IIT / Kharagpur.

Specialization

• Quantitative RAMS Engineering and Safety Management in Railway including Reliability and Maintainability Analyses. CENELEC Standards 50121, 50126, 50128, 50129, and 50159, Yellow Book and RSSB Documents of UK. Military Standards 217F, 338B, 882D and 1629, DO 178B and DEF Standard 00-56.
• MARKOV Modeling used in Railway Systems. Hardware & Software Validation of SSI and Modern Signalling Eqpt e.g. Digital Axle Counter, Universal Failsafe Block Interfacing. IEEE Specifications for Software Engineering, from System Requirement Specification to Verification & Validation.
• Was Member of Railway Board Committee for Development of Indigenous Computer Based Interlocking and was associated with preparing Solid State Interlocking Specification. Was Member of Software Validation Team of Railway Board.
• Attended Steering Committee Meeting for Railways Accident Investigation for the Stakeholders in International Railways Safety Conference at Vancouver in Oct. 2013.
• Presented Papers in several International Railway safety council Conferences

Additional interests are in:

History, Astronomy, Sanskrit and Bengali Literature. Cricket and Classical Music (Vocal & Instrumental)

Email:

Address:201, Sri Dhatri Orchid, Sai Gautham Colony, Puppalaguda, Hyderabad, India, 500089