Software Testing Tools
for DO-178C
Build confidence in airborne software with verification and tool qualification support
DO-178C
Software Verification for Airborne Systems
DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, is the principal guidance used for the development and verification of airborne software.
QA Systems supports engineering teams working towards DO-178C objectives with automated unit and integration testing, structural code coverage, static analysis and tool qualification support.
With Cantata and QA-MISRA, teams can strengthen verification activities, generate objective evidence and reduce the manual effort involved in developing high-integrity airborne software.
What is DO-178C?
DO-178C provides guidance for the software aspects of airborne systems and equipment certification. It is the current version of the RTCA DO-178 standard and is recognised by the FAA through Advisory Circular AC 20-115D. The corresponding EUROCAE document is ED-12C. RTCA
The standard defines software lifecycle processes and verification objectives intended to provide confidence that airborne software performs its intended function and does not introduce unacceptable safety risks.
The level of verification rigour depends on the potential effect of a software failure.
DO-178C Software Levels
Level A – Catastrophic
Software failure could contribute to or cause a catastrophic failure condition.
Level B – Hazardous
Software failure could contribute to or cause a hazardous or severe-major failure condition.
Level C – Major
Software failure could contribute to or cause a major failure condition.
Level D – Minor
Software failure could contribute to or cause a minor failure condition.
Level E – No Effect
Software failure would have no effect on aircraft operational capability or pilot workload.
Higher software levels require progressively more rigorous development, verification, independence and structural coverage activities.
Structural Coverage and MC/DC
DO-178C requires structural coverage analysis to demonstrate that requirements-based testing has exercised the software to the level required for the applicable software level.
For Level A software, this includes Modified Condition/Decision Coverage (MC/DC), providing evidence that each condition within a decision can independently affect its outcome.
Cantata supports statement, decision and MC/DC coverage measurement, helping teams identify coverage gaps and generate objective verification evidence as part of the DO-178C certification process.
Cantata also supports traceability between software requirements, test cases and verification results, helping teams maintain the evidence required throughout the certification lifecycle.
Static Analysis for DO-178 Compliance
DO-178B and DO-178C compliance require accurate, consistent, and standardized source code. Static Analysis with QA-MISRA can help meet these objectives while significantly reducing manual effort.
At our company, we offer QA-MISRA and Astrée, which support the DO-178C verification objectives by level. You can find more information on how these tools work in our QA-MISRA Safety Manual.
Start a free trial of QA-MISRA to evaluate your code against various coding standards, including MISRA, AUTOSAR, CERT C/C++, and CWE, and ensure compliance with DO-178 standards.
Contact us today to learn more about QA-MISRA and how it can help you achieve DO-178 compliance.
Start a free trial of QA-MISRA to evaluate your code against MISRA, AUTOSAR, CERT C/C++, CWE and other coding standards to ensure automated compliance with DO-178 standards.
Unit & Integration Testing for DO-178 Compliance
DO 178 recommends low-level [unit] tests, software integration tests, and hardware-software integration tests. Cantata enables developers to verify DO 178 compliant C and C++ code on host native and embedded target platforms, helping to accelerate compliance with the standard’s verification requirements.
Cantata automates various tasks to assist with compliance, including:
- Test framework generation
- Test case generation
- Test execution
- Results diagnostics and report generation
For more information on Cantata for DO-178 B or DO-178C please contact us.
Our white paper Cantata Standard Briefing DO 178c provides a summary of how Cantata supports DO-178 C verification objectives by level.
Start a free trial today and get a full copy of Cantata.
DO-178 Certification:
Qualification of Cantata and QA-MISRA
The DO-178 standards do not allow for pre-certification of tools, including those certified by SGS-TÜV, such as Cantata. On each project, a DO-178 certification applicant must qualify the tools to be used. Cantata and QA-MISRA, two software verification tools by QA Systems, are DO-178 categorized tools.
The tool qualification process for DO-178B and DO-178C (with its referenced standard DO-330 Software Tool Qualification Considerations) differ somewhat. To ease our customers’ path to certification, we offer tool qualification kits for both standards. These kits provide the necessary qualification data and evidence required for Cantata qualification, along with guidance on the tool qualification process. They also contain comprehensive and detailed guidance on how to use Cantata and QA-MISRA to comply with the software verification objectives of the DO178 standard for Software Levels E to A.
Please contact us for more information about tool qualification kits.