DO-178B, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is a guideline dealing with the safety of safety-critical software used in certain airborne systems. It was jointly developed by the safety-critical working group RTCA SC-167 of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) and WG-12 of the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE). RTCA published the document as RTCA/DO-178B, while EUROCAE published the document as ED-12B. Although technically a guideline, it was a de facto standard for developing avionics software systems until it was replaced in 2012 by DO-178C.
A hazard analysis is one of many methods that may be used to assess risk. At its core, the process entails describing a system object that intends to conduct some activity. During the performance of that activity, an adverse event may be encountered that could cause or contribute to an occurrence. Finally, that occurrence will result in some outcome that may be measured in terms of the degree of loss or harm. This outcome may be measured on a continuous scale, such as an amount of monetary loss, or the outcomes may be categorized into various levels of severity.
ARP4761, Guidelines for Conducting the Safety Assessment Process on Civil Aircraft, Systems, and Equipment is an Aerospace Recommended Practice from SAE International. In conjunction with ARP4754, ARP4761 is used to demonstrate compliance with 14 CFR 25.1309 in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness regulations for transport category aircraft, and also harmonized international airworthiness regulations such as European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) CS–25.1309.
ARP4754, Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP) ARP4754B, is a guideline from SAE International, dealing with the development processes which support certification of Aircraft systems, addressing "the complete aircraft development cycle, from systems requirements through systems verification." Revision A was released in December 2010. It was recognized by the FAA through Advisory Circular AC 20-174 published November 2011. EUROCAE jointly issues the document as ED–79.
RTCA DO-254 / EUROCAE ED-80, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware is a document providing guidance for the development of airborne electronic hardware, published by RTCA, Incorporated and EUROCAE. The DO-254/ED-80 standard was formally recognized by the FAA in 2005 via AC 20-152 as a means of compliance for the design assurance of electronic hardware in airborne systems. The guidance in this document is applicable, but not limited, to such electronic hardware items as
An electronic flight bag (EFB) is an electronic information management device that helps flight crews perform flight management tasks more easily and efficiently with less paper providing the reference material often found in the pilot's carry-on flight bag, including the flight-crew operating manual, navigational charts, etc. In addition, the EFB can host purpose-built software applications to automate other functions normally conducted by hand, such as take-off performance calculations. The EFB gets its name from the traditional pilot's flight bag, which is typically a heavy documents bag that pilots carry to the cockpit.
Integrated modular avionics (IMA) are real-time computer network airborne systems. This network consists of a number of computing modules capable of supporting numerous applications of differing criticality levels.
DO-160, Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment is a standard for the environmental testing of avionics hardware. It is published by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) and supersedes DO-138.
Functional safety is the part of the overall safety of a system or piece of equipment that depends on automatic protection operating correctly in response to its inputs or failure in a predictable manner (fail-safe). The automatic protection system should be designed to properly handle likely systematic errors, hardware failures and operational/environmental stress.
DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as FAA, EASA and Transport Canada approve all commercial software-based aerospace systems. The document is published by RTCA, Incorporated, in a joint effort with EUROC and replaces DO-178B. The new document is called DO-178C/ED-12C and was completed in November 2011 and approved by the RTCA in December 2011. It became available for sale and use in January 2012.
Advisory circular (AC) refers to a type of publication offered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to "provide a single, uniform, agency-wide system … to deliver advisory (non-regulatory) material to the aviation community." Advisory circulars are now harmonized with soft law Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) publications of EASA, which are nearly identical in content. The FAA's Advisory Circular System is defined in FAA Order 1320.46D.
AC 25.1309–1 is an FAA Advisory Circular (AC) that identifies acceptable means for showing compliance with the airworthiness requirements of § 25.1309 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Revision A was released in 1988. In 2002, work was done on Revision B, but it was not formally released; the result is the Rulemaking Advisory Committee-recommended revision B-Arsenal Draft (2002). The Arsenal Draft is "considered to exist as a relatively mature draft". The FAA and EASA have subsequently accepted proposals by type certificate applicants to use the Arsenal Draft on development programs.
The Advisory Circular AC 20-115( ), Airborne Software Development Assurance Using EUROCAE ED-12( ) and RTCA DO-178( ), recognizes the RTCA published standard DO-178 as defining a suitable means for demonstrating compliance for the use of software within aircraft systems. The present revision D of the circular identifies ED-12/DO-178 Revision C as the active revision of that standard and particularly acknowledges the synchronization of ED-12 and DO-178 at that revision.
FAA Order 8110.105B, Airborne Electronic Hardware Approval Guidelines is an explanation of how Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel can use and apply the publication
CAST-32A, Multi-core Processors is a position paper, by the Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST). It is not official guidance, but is considered informational by certification authorities such as the FAA and EASA. A key point is that Multi-core processor "interference can affect execution timing behavior, including worst case execution time (WCET)."
DO-297, Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) Development Guidance and Certification Considerations is one of the primary document by which certification authorities such as the FAA and EASA approve Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) systems for flight. The FAA Advisory Circular (AC) 20-170 refers to DO-297.
The Advisory Circular AC 00-69, Best Practices for Airborne Software Development Assurance Using EUROCAE ED-12( ) and RTCA DO-178( ), initially issued in 2017, supports application of the active revisions of ED-12C/DO-178C and AC 20-115. The AC does not state FAA guidance, but rather provides information in the form of "best practices" complementary to the objectives of ED-12C/DO-178C.
CAST-31, Technical Clarifications Identified for RTCA DO-254 / EUROCAE ED-80 is a Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST) Position Paper. It is an FAA publication that "does not constitute official policy or guidance from any of the authorities", but is provided for educational and informational purposes only for applicants for software and hardware certification.
The Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST) is an international group of aviation certification and regulatory authority representatives. The organization of has been a means of coordination among representatives from certification authorities in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, in particular, the FAA and EASA. The focus of the organization has been harmonization of Certification Authorities activities in part though clarification and improvement of the guidance provided by DO-178 and DO-254.
CAST-15, Merging High-Level and Low-Level Requirements is a Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST) Position Paper. It is an FAA publication that "does not constitute official policy or guidance from any of the authorities", but is provided to applicants for software and hardware certification for educational and informational purposes only.
