DO-178C is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as FAA, EASA and Transport Canada approve all commercial software-based aerospace systems.
In recent years, DO-178C has also become the de facto approach for the use of software in military avionics systems worldwide.
Planning, verification, configuration management, development, quality assurance and certification liaison are the six primary areas of DO-178C guidance.
DO-178C verification is a key area that calls for significantly more software testing and, consequently, more test documentation as the criticality level of the software increases. While testing follows development in the software life cycle, verification is really a concurrent process that carries on throughout.
Verification includes:
- Testing
- Analysis
- Review
The verification documentation criteria in DO-178C include software verification cases and procedures (SVCP) as well as software verification results (SVR). Also included in the verification documentation are reports on reviews of all requirements, design and code.
Executable object code testing results and code coverage analysis reports also fall under the area of verification documentation.
For everyone who needs to understand the ins and outs of Document 178-C, it’s helpful to be aware that DO-178C was developed by industry professionals with little government oversight. As such, it was intended to be both practical and cost-effective. It was designed to be flexible so it could be applied to any developmental model.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers DO-178C Training, a 3-day course that overs all aspects of Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, the primary standard for commercial avionics software development supported by FAA and EASA, ED-12C.
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