In civil Avionics, software related to functional Safety is certified according to DO-178C. Here we find the most stringent assurance objectives for software Safety, the most pioneering methods of their implementation and the most advanced approach to control costs. Aerospace manufacturers use more and more COTS (Commercial-of-the-Shelf) hardware and software components for Avionics control systems in the Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) context.
DO-178C is a certification standard for software used in airborne systems. It concentrates on objectives for software life-cycle processes to assure the development of safe and reliable software for airborne environments. DO-178C determines five Safety levels by examining the effects of a failure condition in the system.
Originally, DO-178C is the title of a document released by RTCA, Inc. describing "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification". The standard has been accepted by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as certification standard and guideline to determine software Safety. The European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) adopted DO-178C as ED-12C.
Safety Levels
DAL (Development Assurance Level)
DAL A - catastrophic
DAL B - hazardous
DAL C - major
DAL D - minor
DAL E - no effects
Reducing Time-to-Market via Safety CertKits
The PikeOS certification approach is modular and hardware independent to the upmost extend. Certifications can be easily extended to different hardware platforms with additional certifiable artefacts, such as a certifiable IP stack, ARINC 653 API, POSIX, Math Library or a filesystem. The tool chain is qualified and the safety methods and considerations are adapted according to the respected vertical market. PikeOS is certifiable according to the latest industry certification standards.
We engage in a close manner with major homologation institutes. The applied methodology is accepted by EASA and FAA. The CertKit supports the certification process of the entire system, thus reduces time-to-market. PikeOS comes with requirement documents (all hierarchy levels) that are structured by objective IDs (requirements, test cases, ...) and can be embedded in customers' system or aircraft documentation for traceability.
ARINC A653 (APEX) is the de-facto standard for space and time partitioning in Safety-critical Avionics real-time operating systems (RTOS) and is also supported by PikeOS Certification Evidences.
The PikeOS Avionics CertKit is a bundle of evidences for a specific PikeOS version and hardware. It contains:
Tool Operational Requirements of customer-related tools
Interface Specifications
User Manual
Each CertKit comes with a frequently updated Safety bulletin, mentioning known Safety alerts and improvements. Customers can switch to long term maintenance for a selected certifiable product and also purchase a source code option for higher DAL levels.
