MATLAB and Simulink Integrated in the DO-178C Software Certification Workflow for a New Helicopter

This talk will explain how MATLAB^® and Simulink^® tools can improve the high-level requirements (HLR) test procedure definition in case of an embedded software certification with respect to the DO-178C tables (A6 & A7) criteria.

The main capabilities used are Simulink modeling aspect for the requirements (behavior and data), Test Sequence block for test case creation and execution, and MATLAB scripts for automatically saving test case inputs and expected outputs.

This new method leads to the earliest validation of test case maturity and coverage because of simulation of HLR. It improves modification lead time of model and/or scenario in case of HLR modification. It facilitates the review of HLR models by system engineers.

The objectives link to the method integration in the certification process are successful, and the advantages of its applications are proven efficiency for test model validation (and therefore HLR maturity) and allowing more software changes with low validation and verification impact on the host.