Software Certification of Safety-Critical Avionic Systems: DO-178C and Its Impacts

The rapid growth in the use of software in airborne systems and equipment in the early 1980s resulted in a need for industry-accepted guidance for satisfying airworthiness requirements [1]. To assure the reliability of the software and to ultimately ensure the safety of passengers, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has imposed software certifcation suited to the development of safety-critical systems. The FAA has accepted guidelines developed by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) that respond to the necessity of reliability and safety, which are vital in this feld: DO-178B/EUROCAE ED-12B (DO-178B), titled Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certifcation [1]. DO-178B prescribes design assurance guidance for airborne software. The aim of DO-178B is to assure that software developed for avionics systems is reliable and safe to use in fight [2]. © 2015 IEEE.