"Working with Altera on DO-254-certifiable IP is the next step for us in supporting the needs of this market. Mentor recognized the importance of DO-254 at its inception and has been investing in solutions for DO-254 certification for several years. This initiative lets us leverage both our methodology expertise and tools to not only provide the industry with high-quality IP but also the tool and methodology guidance that many are seeking," said Michelle Lange, DO-254 program manager at Mentor Graphics.

In support of the growing number of avionics and military applications requiring DO-254-certifiable components, programmable logic device company Altera and IC design tool supplier Mentor Graphics are doing joint work to develop tools and methodologies for use in creating DO-254-certifiable intellectual property (IP) that targets Altera’s FPGA and HardCopy Asics.

As part of the work, Mentor said its design and verification technology will be leveraged in the development of DO-254-certifiable IP with the primary tools in Mentor’s DO-254 suite including HDL Designer, Precision Synthesis, ModelSim, Questa, the 0-In formal verification tools, and a new product for automating requirements traceability.

Mentor also said it offers DO-254 compliance training, design methodology assessments, and consulting services, including a DO-254 jumpstart package aimed at establishing advanced verification methodologies for DO-254 designs.

Also, Mentor said it is joining Altera’s DO-254 global partner network to establish design and verification best practices for DO-254-certifiable IP development and integration flows.

“DO-254-certifiable IP is a huge productivity gain for our customers who have to comply with the DO-254 standard. Now instead of having to reverse engineer or re-develop a commonly used component, companies can actually reap the productivity benefit of off-the-shelf certifiable networking and processor IP, with the confidence of knowing that it supports the design assurance needs of their flows and thus does not present a certification risk,” explained Amr El-Ashmawi, senior business unit manager of Altera’s military/aerospace market.

Through its DO-254 partner network, Altera said it offers a safety-critical version of its Nios II embedded processor, with the certification aspects of this core developed by HCELL Engineering using Mentor tools.

“Dealing with COTS IP under the guidance of DO-254 has been one of the industry’s biggest challenges to date. I’m excited to see vendors like Altera and Mentor taking the initiative to address a very important aspect of these flows to make COTS IP compliant with DO-254. Their efforts could save hardware applicants a lot of resources and frustration,” added Tammy Reeve, president of Patmos Engineering Services, a firm that acts as a certification authority under the guidance of the FAA.