Esterel Technologies

What is DO-178?

DO-178, is a set of avionics standards described in the RTCA Document RTCA/DO-178, titled Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, was developed by the avionics industry to establish software considerations for developers, installers, and users, when aircraft equipment design is implemented using microcomputer techniques.

The first formal publication of this specification was published in 1982 by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA). This was also approved by EUROCAE as ED-12 shortly thereafter.

An update to DO-178 was published in 1985, and was called DO-178A. EUROCAE also published an matching update to ED-12, named ED-12A.

In 1992, various industry working groups published a comprehensive update to DO-178A, named DO-178B by RTCA and ED-12B by EUROCAE. This revision of DO-178B is the current working version of this specification.