Helix QAC: Best Static Code Analyzer for Functional Safety and Standards Compliance

For over 30 years, Helix QAC has been the trusted static code analyzer for C and C++ programming languages. With its depth and accuracy of analysis, Helix QAC has been the preferred static code analyzer in tightly regulated and safety-critical industries that need to meet rigorous compliance requirements. Often, this involves verifying compliance with coding standards — such as MISRA and AUTOSAR — and functional safety standards, such as ISO 26262.

Helix QAC is certified for functional safety compliance by TÜV-SÜD, including IEC 61508, ISO 26262, EN 50128, IEC 60880, and IEC 62304. In addition, it is also certified in ISO 9001 | TickIT plus Foundation Level, which is one of the most widely adopted standards to ensure that your requirements are not only met but exceeded as well. Trust Helix QAC as the best static code analyzer C for static code analysis C++.

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Compliance

Safe, Secure, & Reliable Code

Higher Code Quality

industry-energy

Faster Releases

Helix QAC Key Features

Risk Prioritization

Prioritize coding issues based on the severity of risk. Helix QAC helps you to target the most critical defects using filters, suppressions, and baselines. It delivers accurate diagnostics and actionable results — enabling you to fix the most important issues first.

Image Overview Helix QAC Key Features Risk Prioritization

Analysis Dashboard

The Helix QAC dashboard is a centralized store of analysis results, accessed through a web browser. Results are uploaded to the dashboard as ‘snapshots’. Customized views and reports mean that project code quality and compliance metrics can be monitored over time.

The Helix QAC dashboard is fully customizable, enabling you to tailor its rows and columns to more adequately meet your team’s and project’s needs. By using the dashboard, you can:

•    Review the entirety of the code by project and section.
•    Identify issues and deviations.
•    Review project updates and notifications.
•    Assign rule configurations (such as MISRA, AUTOSAR, and CERT).
•    Verify how compliant the code is with coding standards and industry best practices.
•    Measure overall code quality.
•    Monitor developing trends with customizable reports.

Image Overview Helix QAC Key Features Analysis

Development Toolset Integration

Integrate static code analysis with the rest of your development toolset. Helix QAC supports most compilers. And, you can integrate it with many development tools — including IDES (such as Microsoft Visual Studio), version control systems (such as Helix Core), and continuous integration build servers (such as Jenkins).

Image Overview Helix QAC Key Features Development
Image Customer Protean Electric
Helix QAC finds issues other tools miss.

"We're impressed by the performance of Helix QAC. It is very accurate. It finds issues that other tools have missed."

Huw Jones, Senior Software Test Engineer at Protean Electric
Image Customer Abiomed
Most defects are caught early...

"With Helix QAC our prototypes retain much of their integrity, because most defects are caught early. Even as our goals evolve and the code changes, our product quality remains consistently high."

Dana Sawyer, Senior Software Developer at Abiomed
Image Customer Viveris Technologies
Already certified to EN 50128...

"Using a software verification tool that is already certified to EN 50128 is vital. This accelerated our development times, reduced our overall cost, and mitigated our risk."

Emmanuel Charbouillot, Technical Manager at Viveris Rhône-Alpes

Perforce Validate + Helix QAC

The Perforce Validate platform provides a centralized store of analysis data, trends, and configurations for codebases across the organization, providing a single pane of glass for all Perforce Static Analysis products.

Validate logo labelled as "Control, Collaboration, and Reporting," over Helix QAC & Klocwork logos labelled as "Static Code Analyzers."
Upload Helix QAC results in the Perforce Validate platform.

Helix QAC Coding Standards

 

Helix QAC makes it easy to comply with coding standards.

You can use the following compliance taxonomies to enforce coding standards across your codebase. And, you’ll get fewer false positives and false negatives in your diagnostics.

Safety Standards

 

C

C++

Safety standards help to ensure that the software powered by your code is reliable and functionally safe. (Note: The complete set of safety standards may not be available with older versions of Helix QAC.)

MISRA C 2004

✔

 

MISRA C 2012

✔

 

MISRA C 2012 AMD 1

✔

 

MISRA C 2012 AMD 2

✔

 

MISRA C 2012 AMD 3

✔

 

MISRA C 2012 AMD 4

✔

 

MISRA C 2023

✔

 

Barr-C

✔

 

MISRA C++ 2008

 

✔

AUTOSAR C++14

 

✔

JSF AV C++

 

✔

 

Security Standards

 

C

C++

Secure coding standards help to safeguard your code from potential cyberthreats and other coding vulnerabilities. (Note: The complete set of security standards may not be available with older versions of Helix QAC.)

CERT

✔

✔

CWE

✔

✔

CWE Top 25

✔

✔

ISO/IEC TS 17961 (C secure)

✔

 

 

Quality Standards

 

C

C++

Quality standards help to ensure that your code is reliable and free of errors. (Note: The complete set of quality standards may not be available with older versions of Helix QAC.)

High Integrity C++ (HIC++)

 

✔

 

Custom Standards & Compliance Modules

 

C

C++

You can create and customize your own rules, project/business coding standards, or compliance modules for C or C++.

Perforce can create a custom compliance module that meets the unique needs of your project/business.

Find out more by emailing our services team.

Create Your Own Standard

✔

✔

Create Your Own Rules

✔

✔

Custom Compliance Module

✔

✔

 

Access rule enforcement documentation for specific coding standards here.

Access Documentation

Who Uses Helix QAC?

icon-solutions-by-industry-automotive

Automotive

Automotive software development requires more than 100 million lines of code. What’s more, the installed embedded software is generally developed independently from the rest of the automobile. 

Because of this, development teams must be able to effectively manage a unique set of challenges. With Helix QAC, development teams are able to collaborate on projects, and ensure that their code is high quality and meets regulatory compliance.

industry-iot

Embedded Development

Managing the increase in digital assets is essential for the efficient design and development of embedded systems. All of those processes need to happen under strict compliance guidelines. For quality-critical industries, code needs to comply with coding standards and industry requirements. And, Helix QAC can prove that your code is compliant.

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace, defense, and military organizations use embedded software every day. Making sure that software is safe, secure, and reliable is critical. This puts developers under pressure to produce software without any defects.

Large code bases and complex systems make this a challenge. Tough compliance requirements make it even more difficult. With Helix QAC, airborne systems developers can easily prove compliance and develop quality systems.

icon-industry-medical-device

Medical Device

The quality of software embedded in medical devices can mean the difference between life and death. Because of this, there is increasing scrutiny for both safety and security in devices.

By using Helix QAC, you’ll be able to meet ever-changing government regulations, and verify that your medical devices are safe, reliable, and efficient.

industry-energy

Energy Technology

Energy and utilities product development teams need to ensure functional safety compliance, meet industry regulations as well as mitigate potential security vulnerabilities and coding errors. This can be a significant challenge for teams to effectively meet. 

With Helix QAC, energy and utilities product development teams can easily comply with coding standards, identify potential risks, and have visibility into code compliance. 

Certified for ISO, IEC, and EN Compliance

Helix QAC is independently certified for compliance. Helix QAC was developed by Programming Research/PRQA, which is now part of Perforce.

TÜV-SÜD  Certified

Helix QAC is TÜV-SÜD certified for compliance with key functional safety standards:

  • ISO 26262 (automotive) up to ASIL level D.
  • IEC 61508 (general industrial) up to SIL 4.
  • EN 50128 (railways) up to SW-SIL 4.
  • IEC 62304 (medical devices) up to Software Safety Class C.
  • IEC 60880 (nuclear power).

ISO 9001 | TickIT plus Foundation Level Certified

Helix QAC is also certified in ISO 9001 | TickIT plus Foundation Level.

ISO 9001 is one of the most widely adopted standards. It ensures that organizations are striving to meet and exceed customers’ requirements and satisfaction through continuous improvement. 

ISO 9001 and TÜV-SÜD certificates for QAC.

Additional Resources

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