DO-254: Ensuring Safety and Reliability in Airborne Electronic Hardware Development
DO-254, also known as “Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware,” is a standard developed by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA). It provides guidance for the development of airborne electronic hardware (AEH) used in aircraft systems. DO-254 is part of a larger set of standards known as DO-178C, which covers the development of software for airborne systems.

The main objective of DO-254 is to ensure that the electronic hardware used in airborne systems is designed, verified, and validated to meet the specified safety and reliability requirements. It defines a set of processes and activities that need to be followed during the development lifecycle of AEH.
DO-254 addresses various aspects of hardware development, including requirements capture, design, verification, configuration management, and certification. It provides guidance on how to establish hardware design assurance levels (DALs) based on the potential impact of a failure on the aircraft and its occupants. The standard emphasizes traceability, documentation, and evidence-based compliance.
Compliance with DO-254 is typically required by aviation regulatory authorities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in Europe, for certification of airborne systems. It is applicable to all types of electronic hardware used in aircraft, including digital and analog circuits, programmable devices, and complex integrated circuits.
Developers and manufacturers of airborne electronic hardware must follow the processes and guidelines outlined in DO-254 to ensure the safety, reliability, and airworthiness of their products. Compliance with DO-254 involves rigorous planning, execution, and documentation of activities such as requirements analysis, design implementation, and verification testing to demonstrate compliance with the specified objectives and requirements.
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