Software Tools for Safety-Critical Systems According to DO-254

In recent decades, safety has emerged as a major issue in many embedded applications in the aerospace, aircraft, automobile, railways, nuclear, medical, and other industries. Safety in this context means avoiding harm to individuals or society due to malfunctioning computer equipment or software. The essential requirements for these systems are so strict that they are regulated by government agencies such as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the case of both airborne and ground aviation systems.The general concept of safety assurance is to minimize risk that can lead to accidents. This implies that the software tools used to develop the hardware and software components in safety-critical systems must be evaluated as thoroughly as the products themselves.