New Partnership to Speed Up DO-178C Certification
Rapita Systems and Avionyx are partnering to accelerate DO-178C DAL A certification for complex avionics. The effort focuses on multicore processor safety and the emerging eVTOL market, leveraging automated verification tools to streamline the high-assurance software development lifecycle.
The partnership specifically targets the hurdles of certifying multicore processors under the FAA's AC 20-193 and EASA's AMC 20-193 guidance. These standards address the complexities of multicore systems, which were not covered in the original DO-178C guidelines written for single-core hardware. The primary challenge is ensuring deterministic behavior and analyzing interference when multiple cores share resources like cache and memory. Avionyx, acquired by eVTOL developer Joby Aviation in 2022, brings over 35 years of experience in aerospace software engineering and certification. This acquisition was a strategic move by Joby to bolster its own FAA certification efforts for its all-electric aircraft. The firm specializes in the entire software lifecycle under DO-178C and DO-254 standards. Rapita Systems provides a specialized software verification tool suite called RVS. The suite includes tools like RapiTime for worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis and RapiCover for structural coverage up to MC/DC, both critical for DO-178C compliance. Their MACH178 workflows are specifically designed to provide a methodology for satisfying the objectives of multicore certification guidance. The collaboration aims to create a more efficient pathway for DAL A certification, the highest and most stringent safety level for flight-critical systems. This level of certification can traditionally take years and cost millions of dollars, requiring highly specialized and scarce expertise. By combining automated tools with deep engineering experience, the partnership intends to shorten compliance timelines from weeks to hours for some tasks. This focus on multicore processors is critical for the burgeoning eVTOL market, which relies on complex software and advanced processing power for flight controls and autonomous systems. The global eVTOL market was valued at over $13 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow significantly, but high development and certification costs remain a major challenge for manufacturers.
