A control system and a method for validating operation of the control
system are provided. The control system has a first controller operably
communicating with a second controller. The first and second controllers
have first and second read-only memories, respectively. The method
includes executing a first software program in the first controller that
retrieves a first key value from the second controller. The method
further includes retrieving a second key value from a table using the
first key value as an index value. The table is stored in a memory that
is accessible by the first software program. The method includes
executing at least one mathematical operation in the first software
program using at least the second key value to obtain a third key value.
The method further includes sending the first and third key values from
the first controller to the second controller. The method further
includes determining a first validation value based on the first key
value utilizing the second controller. The method further includes
comparing the third key value to the first validation value using the
second controller and indicating that the first software program has
executed until completion when the third key value is equal to the first
validation value.