MONTREAL, Quebec, 5 Nov. 2008. Presagis announced VAPS XT-178, their next generation, COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) software tool for the prototyping, development, and deployment of DO-178B certifiable code for safety critical embedded applications in airborne software.
More than 20 aircraft programs are using Presagis VAPS Qualifiable Code Generator (QCG) -- including such high profile projects as the Super Puma, Tiger, Pilatus PC-21, and Eurofighter Typhoon, says. Robert Kopersiewich, vice president of product and program management at Presagis. "VAPS XT-178 will carry forward our tradition of delivering avionics developers with qualifiable productivity tools by providing our customers with a more powerful and extensible development environment for the creation of safety critical applications that can adhere to the rigorous demands of the DO-178B standard."
Developed by RTCA and EUROCAE, and accepted by the FAA, JAA, and Transport Canada, the DO-178B standard governs the development cycle of any software embedded in airborne equipment and is among the most stringent certification standards in the world. To prevent major failures, every line of code embedded in an airborne system must be tested and verified. The ability to track and document HMI development is critical to this process. As a result, the certification associated with embedded code production leads to tremendous overhead for avionics developers.
VAPS XT-178 and the optional VAPS XT-178 Certification Kit will help to shorten the time and effort required for producing safety critical embedded applications, Presagis officials say.
The new tool will offer customers an easy-to-use, end-to-end solution that will allow for generation of code in a deterministic and reliable way with design and specification documents required for traceability by the DO-178B standard to be automatically generated.
VAPS XT-178 also leverages a new user-extensible core architecture and integrated logic capabilities while also including a qualifiable code generator (CODE nGEN), certifiable Runtime Libraries, and a qualifiable document generator (DOC nGEN).
With the addition of the VAPS XT-178 Certification Kit, including all certification artifacts, VAPS XT-178 will automate, reduce, or remove many of the most time-consuming elements in the development and certification of avionics projects.
VAPS XT-178 will also offer an ARINC 661 add-on module. This module will provide a quick and easy way to specify and design any cockpit display system for compliance with ARINC 661.
