If you want your software to help control aircraft, it must meet the requirements described in DO-178B, "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification," created and distributed by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics. Those requirements apply to software for the latest multicore processors and code for the smallest microcontrollers. Software developers can read the standard or rely on proven commercial tools that examine and test code for compliance. I recommend the latter route.

On 17 December 2009, LDRA, a UK-based company, announced it has integrated its suite of software-test and -compliance tools into Microchip Technology’s MPLAB development software for PIC18, PIC24 and dsPIC32/33 microcontrollers (MCUs). LDRA offers software tools that automate software verification, perform source-code analysis, and test code. So, developers who already use chips in these three PIC MCU families--and those who might use them--now have a way to ensure their software meets the DO-178B requirements, and requirements for analogous safety-critical medical and industrial devices. (The LDRA tools go beyond testing for DO-178B compliance. To download information, visit: www.hughescom.net/pressroom/LDRA.html and www.ldra.com.)

Even though Microchip Technology follows a non-ANSI-standard implementation of the C language, the LDRA tools can analyze and run code on the target PIC MCU and extract the results to create detailed reports for developers. The scalability of LDRA’s components lets developers use the sophisticated tools even if their MCU of choice includes only kilobytes of RAM and tens of kilobytes of ROM. By connecting their host computer to a target PIC MCU through the chip's serial I/O port, developers gain identical data outputs from each PIC family.

If you don't use or plan to use PIC processors, note that LDRA has integrated its tools with those from many other processor and software vendors such as Wind River, Texas Instruments, IAR, GreenHills, and Analog Devices. For information about these and other vendor connections, visit www.ldra.com/integrations.asp.

--Jon Titus