DO254

DO-254, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware, is a RTCA standard that provides guidance for the lifecycle processes required to develop airborne electronic hardware for civil aviation. It applies to digital hardware such as FPGAs, CPLDs, ASICs, and other programmable devices used in avionics hardware and flight control systems. The objective is to ensure safety-critical hardware achieves an appropriate level of assurance for certification.

The standard defines design assurance levels (DALs) from A to E, with A the most stringent. The required rigor, evidence, and analyses scale with the DAL. DO-254 covers planning, requirements specification, architectural and detailed design, implementation, integration, verification, validation, and hardware safety assessment. It emphasizes traceability of requirements to design and to verification artifacts, configuration management, problem reporting, and independent verification and reviews.

Tool qualification is a key focus when design or verification tools influence evidence; qualified tools support the certification argument. The document also addresses hardware-software integration considerations and aligns with certification objectives of major civil aviation authorities.

DO-254 has undergone revisions to reflect evolving hardware technologies and assurance practices. It is widely adopted by avionics manufacturers and suppliers and is commonly used in conjunction with DO-178C for software within certified airborne systems. Compliance is demonstrated through a lifecycle evidence package, including hazard analysis results, traceability matrices, verification results, and rationale for design decisions, to support certification of the airborne hardware.