Length: 4 Days
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Advanced DO-178C Training Workshop Training by Tonex

Advanced DO-178C Workshop is a 4-day course where participants learn about the fundamentals of DO-178C, the DO-178C software lifecycle model, the software certification process, and much more.

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DO-178C is a multifaceted and highly technical go-to guideline for all commercial software-based aerospace systems.

DO-178C is also vital to modern-day avionics project planning and development.

Though the structure of DO-178C follows that of its predecessor (DO-178B), it updated terms, references, and objectives, and establishes new guidelines upon which aerospace professionals should develop, test and implement their projects.

Additionally, DO-178C takes advantage of technology-related supplements involving, among other concepts, model-based development (DO-331) and object-oriented techniques (DO-332), all of which were effectively new concepts to the industry at the time of DO-178C’s development.

Analysts point out that DO-178C takes advantage of supplemental guides so as to minimize expansion or alteration of the core text.

For the avionics industry, DO-178C provides important, detailed guidance for developing airborne software systems to ensure that these systems perform their intended function with a high level of reliability.

In the United States, the FAA, as part of its aerospace industry safety certification processes, uses DO-178C for software and RTCA DO-254 for complex electronic hardware.

Within the military aerospace industry, DO-178C also applies. However there are differences between military compliance and civil compliance. Some of these differences include:

  • While emphasis on safety analysis remains, the military version focuses more heavily on mission success probability (MSP).
  • The emphasis is on DO-178 “Military Compliance” versus DO-178C “Certification.”
  • There is focus on harsher operational environments.
  • The military/customer receives and reviews all documents, not just the Plan for Software Aspects of Certification (PSAC) and Safety Assurance System (SAS).
  • In most cases the target for approval is a military agency rather than the FAA or EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency).

DO-178C became necessary because aircraft and defense systems are made up of many different parts, including highly complex software and hardware components. Since many of these qualify as mission-critical applications whose faults can have deadly consequences for passengers and crew, avionics is a very heavily regulated industry.

Consequently, in order for an aircraft to go to market, it must undergo a long certification process to be considered airworthy. The certification process includes submission to the relevant regulatory authorities in order to get a test certificate.

Advanced DO-178C Training Workshop Course by Tonex

Advanced DO-178 training workshop covers the aspects of DO-178C guideline, as well as its supplementary standards. You will be introduced to the philosophy, rationale, and history behind DO-178C and will learn about the methods and techniques required to develop and implement it in your organization.

Advanced DO-178C training workshop covers the main notions behind DO-178B/C avionics certification. It also reviews the differences between DO-178B and DO-178C.

Advanced DO-178C Training Workshop

RTCA DO-178C / EUROCAE ED-12C is an upgraded version of the DO-178B/ED-12B standard that controls the software for avionics systems in commercial airplanes. This recent revision demonstrates rather small modifications to the “core” guidance, but generated four important new documents:

  • RTCA DO-330 / EUROCAE ED-215: Software Tool Qualification Considerations
  • RTCA DO-331 / EUROCAE ED-218: Model-Based Development and Verification
  • RTCA DO-332 / EUROCAE ED-217: Object-Oriented Technology and Related Techniques
  • RTCA DO-333 / EUROCAE ED-216: Formal Methods

From DO-178B to DO-178C

Revising DO-178B started in late 2004 with the supports of a cooperative committee – RTCA Special Committee #205 (SC-205) and EUROCAE Working Group #71 (WG-71). This revision tried to accomplish the following objectives:

  • Fixing mistakes and elucidate confusing content in DO-178B
  • Facilitating software technologies and standards being applied since the publication of DO-178B
  • Considering the additional material that support DO-178B, containing Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST) papers and Issues Papers (IPs)

While the intent was to change the type of the document from being process-based to product-based, the agreement decision was to limit the modifications only to the necessary ones, and to make the new version less difficult than the DO-178B. To that end, the modifications to the “core guidance” are rather small. Advanced DO-178C training workshop will discuss these modifications and help your organization to migrate from DO-178B to the most recent version, i.e., DO-178C.

Advanced DO-178C training workshop is mainly dedicated to practical activities, including labs, group class activities, and hands-on workshops. Even though our course agenda is intended to be comprehensive and covers all the required material, we are flexible to adjust it based on the needs of your organization.

Audience

Advanced DO-178C training workshop is a 4-day course designed for:

  • Software engineers
  • Project managers
  • Systems engineers
  • Software quality engineers
  • Test engineers
  • Quality and process assurance personnel

Training Objectives

Upon the completion of Advanced DO-178C training workshop, the attendees are able to:

  • Understand all the parts of DO-178C
  • Articulate the differences of DO-178B and DO-178C
  • Discuss the background and evolution path of DO-178C
  • Understand the DO-178C software life cycle model
  • Explain the constituent processes of DO-178C
  • Discuss the usual pitfalls and problems associated with DO-178C
  • Apply the required methods to develop and implement DO-178C
  • Use the best practices suitable for their organization
  • Conduct process planning
  • Elaborate environment considerations
  • Discuss the requirements and architecture
  • Perform the software verification process
  • Determine considerations (memory usage, Worst Case Execution Time, language semantics, etc.)
  • Understand and implement the DO-178C supplements
  • Apply tool qualification

Course Outline

Overview of DO-178C

  • DO-178C description
  • DO-178C definitions
  • DO-178C applications
  • DO-178C vs DO-178B
  • DO-178C terminology
  • DO-178C background
  • DO-178C objectives and goals
  • DO-178C strategies
  • DO-178C best practices
  • Part number and nomenclature
  • DO-178C team members and signature authority
  • Organizational roles
  • DO-178C acronyms
  • Applicable documents

 Overview of Aviation Systems

  • System functions assigned to mechanical hardware
  • System functions assigned to electrical hardware and software
  • System failure circumstances
  • High-level hardware functions and the latent failure points
  • Security and partitioning

Software Architecture and Design with DO-178C

  • Architectural block diagram
  • Safety monitoring
  • Resource distribution
  • Repetition
  • Fault acceptance threshold
  • Timing
  • Task scheduling
  • Processor #1
    • Situations and styles
    • Assignments
  • Processor #2
    • Situations and styles
    • Assignments
  • Determining COTS software
    • Real-time functioning
    • Board support bundle
    • Libraries
  • Disabled code
    • USB code
    • RS-232 code
    • Ethernet code
    • Boot load code

DO-178C Certification Concerns

  • Fundamentals of DO-178C
  • Means to stay consistent with the certification
  • Issue papers
  • Certification Review Items (CRI)
  • Software Development Assurance Levels (DALs)
  • Demonstrating DAL
  • Most critical failure conditions
    • Command DAL and worst case failure condition
    • Monitor DAL and worst case failure condition
    • Video processor DAL and worst case failure condition
  • Identifying the software level
  • DO-178C objectives by DALs
  • Conformity measure matrices
  • DO-178C software compliance objectives

DO-178C Software Lifecycle Process

  • Developing the V-Model
  • Developing several DAL’s inside a particular lifecycle process
  • Processes and actions relationships
  • Various correlation among processes
  • Lifecycle flow diagram
    • Hardware and software aspects
  • Developing software incremental lifecycle flow diagram
  • How to provide effective feedback
    • How to give feedback on the system and safety process
    • How to give feedback to the development and integral processes
  • Traceability of analyses and the assessment results
    • Transition planning
    • Peer planning
  • Methods of reporting problem
  • Software planning development
    • Software planning development objectives
    • Software planning development inputs
    • Software planning development outputs
    • Software planning development activities
    • Technical boundaries
    • Software planning development tool usage
    • Software planning development transactional requirements
  • Software integral processes
    • Verification process
    • Configuration management
    • Quality assurance
    • Certification liaison
  • Software requirements process
  • Software design development
    • Software design development objectives
    • Software design development inputs
    • Software design development outputs
    • Software design development activities
    • Technical boundaries
    • Software design development tool usage
    • Software design development transactional requirements
  • Software coding development
    • Software coding development objectives
    • Software coding development inputs
    • Software coding development outputs
    • Software coding development activities
    • Technical boundaries
    • Software coding development tool usage
    • Software coding development transactional requirements
  • Software integration development
    • Software integration development objectives
    • Software integration development inputs
    • Software integration development outputs
    • Software integration development activities
    • Technical boundaries
    • Software integration development tool usage
    • Software integration development transactional requirements
  • Software testing development
    • Software testing development objectives
    • Software testing development inputs
    • Software testing development outputs
    • Software testing development activities
    • Technical boundaries
    • Software testing development tool usage
    • Software testing development transactional requirements

DO-178C Data Lifecycle

  • Lifecycle data vs other data describing the system
  • Trace data
  • The lifecycle info to be generated and regulated
  • The lifecycle info to other info describing the system
  • The lifecycle info to be presented to the authority
  • Software governor classifications
  • The Lifecycle info DER delegation plan

Additional Deliberations

  • Prior established software
  • Tool qualification
  • Unconventional methods
  • Product service background
  • Field applicable software
  • Preference selectable software
  • User alterable software
  • Various versions of software
  • COTS software
  • Software supplier determination
  • Deviations and alteration to plans

DO-178C Software Levels

  • Level A: Catastrophic
  • Level B: Hazardous
  • Level C: Major
  • Level D: Minor
  • Level E: No effect

Software Planning Process


  • Establishing software plans
  • Defining the software lifecycle environment
  • Language and compiler deliberations
  • Establishing software guidelines
  • Review and assurance software planning development

 Verification Process Development

  • High-level requirements verification
  • Low-Level requirements verification
  • Software structure verification
  • Source code verification
  • Integration process outputs verification
  • Hardware/software incorporation verification
  • Software integration verification
  • Low-level verification testing
  • Requirements-oriented verification test coverage
  • Architectural coverage evaluation
  • Test cases, 
protocols and outputs verification
  • Software development process traceability
  • Software verification process traceability
  • Verification of parameter data

Configuration Management Process (CMP)

  • Configuration determination
  • Baselines and traceability
  • Reporting the issues, tracking them, and developing corrective action plans
  • Change management
  • Change evaluation
  • Configuration status accounting
  • Archive, recovery and statement
  • Data control classification
  • Software load control

DO-178C Supplements Standards

  • DO-330: Software Tool Qualification Considerations
  • DO-331: Model-Based Development and Verification
  • DO-332: Object-Oriented Technology and Related Techniques
  • DO-333: Formal Methods

 DO-330 Software Tool Qualification Considerations

  • Objectives
  • Applications
  • Criteria
  • Criteria 1
    • A tool, the output of which belongs to the airborne software and so could introduce an error
    • Corresponding to development tool
  • Criteria 2
    • A tool that mechanizes verification process and so could fail to detect an error
    • Corresponding to verification tool
  • Criteria 3
    • A tool that could fail to detect an error
    • Corresponding to verification tool
  • Tool Qualification Levels (TQLs) and related software level matrix

DO-331 Model-Based Development & Verification Supplement

  • Models applications
  • Specification Models including high-level requirements
  • Design Models containing architecture and low-level requirements
  • Planning phase
  • Software model standards
  • Simulations
  • Model coverage evaluation
  • Usage of model simulation
  • Model coverage criteria to determine unintended functionality

DO-332 Object-Oriented Technology (OOT)

  • Objectives
  • Applications
  • Planning phase
  • Verification activities
  • Vulnerability analysis
  • OOT concerns and recommended solutions

DO-333 Formal Methods Supplement

  • Mathematical based
  • Specification
  • Development
  • Verification
  • Clear software systems requirements definition
  • Detailed interaction between engineers
  • Verification documentation

Advanced DO-178C Training Workshop

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