Research on Application of Design Assurance for Aviation Hardware based on DO-254

RTCA DO-254, “Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware,” the best industry practice and experience for the airborne hardware design assurance, outlines an approach for providing design assurance confidence for functions of a range of design assurance levels. DO-254 using functional failure path analysis (FFPA) method to decompose the hardware functions, verify it so as to achieve the purpose of compliance with safety requirements. However, is limited in detail and providers no examples, making it difficult to understand for engineering designer based on the development and application. This article will research the function failure path analysis (FFPA) method, and illustrates it with an aeronautical engineering case by LRU example to enhance understanding and to accumulate experience of applications for DO-254.