The Use of Advanced Verification Methods to Address DO-254 Design Assurance

This paper covers a project that is using advanced functional verification methods to verify a RTCA DO-254/EUROCAE ED80 Level A/B design. These methods include constrained random simulation, design intent specification (designer-added assertions), the total coverage model (unified coverage database), and formal verification (formal model checking). The project is a real design currently being developed at Rockwell Collins. This paper will include a brief description of the project, the methodologies used, why they were chosen, a description of these methods, why they work, and how they're similar or different from other verification methods. This paper will also include a discussion of verification methodology issues that needed attention, and implications to achieving DO-254 certification using advanced verification methods. This paper should be of general interest in the mil-aero community, especially for those with DO-254 compliance requirements, as "advanced verification techniques" such as constrained random and formal verification have not been the traditional verification methodology.