MELBOURNE, Fla., 21 April 2014. Parker Aerospace officials selected CERTON to rewrite requirement specifications, conceptual and detailed design documentation, and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) verification test cases and procedures for the company’s remote electronics unit (REU) firmware, as well as advised Parker Aerospace on approval for the airborne electronic hardware (AEH) design in accordance with DO‑254 guidelines for Level A safety criticality.
CERTON employees, working on site at Parker Aerospace and remotely from CERTON’s headquarters in Melbourne, Fla., produced documentation in accordance with Parker Aerospace’s processes and tools; providing services based on experience with past successful Airborne Electronic Hardware (AEH) projects approved under DO‑254 Level A guidelines. AEH approval by the FAA under DO‑254 guidelines is one of CERTON’s primary areas of expertise, and one of the fastest growing business segments with nearly half of CERTON’s customer projects in this category and continuing to expand.
"The use of FPGAs for safety‑critical flight applications is a direction the market is growing at a fast pace, and CERTON is established as an industry leader in AEH product approvals under the RTCA/DO‑254 guidelines,” Timothy Stockton, president and CEO of CERTON. “Fly-By-Wire flight controls is also an area where CERTON has proven experience both with complex hardware and software, working with our customers to successfully get their products approved with safe planes in the air on schedule. There are a lot of great people involved on multiple Parker flight control AEH programs as a result of our proven success with Parker and other customers. We’re proud to be a part of it."
The REU is a safety-critical component of Parker Aerospace’s Fly-By-Wire Control System, which coordinates the operation of flight control surfaces and is certified at Design Assurance Level (DAL) A in accordance with DO‑254 standards. The unit coordinates data communications between flight control computers, hardware that measures pilot input, and hardware that manipulates flight control surfaces for the Bombardier C Series aircraft. DO‑254 DAL‑A is the highest level of certification for complex programmable hardware in aerospace applications; it is reserved for designs whose function is critical to the safety of the aircraft's crew and passengers.
