In April 2000, the ED-80 document entitled “Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware” prepared by Working Group 46 “Electronic hardware” was published.
This ED-80 standard (as its counterpart RTCA DO-254) has been widely used and has proven to be efficient as guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware (AEH) certification. It is recognized as an Acceptable Means of Compliance by Airworthiness Authorities (EASA via AMC 20-152A and FAA via AC 20-152A) for a large number of projects. The document provides a process-oriented framework, and associated recognized guidance for multiple topics/activities such as requirement-based verification , safety, certification and coordination with system and software development assurance practices.
Thanks to this field exposition over many years through its application on certified programs, jointly with A(M)C 20-152A, several improvements, clarifications or complements to the ED-80 standard were raised by Authorities or industry need to be captured while recognizing that maintaining the harmonization of certification requirements and guidance material among Authorities is a strong expectation from industry members.
In addition, as Airborne Electronic Hardware (AEH) technology is evolving quickly, some topics of the original ED-80 may need to be clarified or updated or may even need additional guidance (new technologies to be integrated : multicores, model based development)
WG-128 shall update ED-80 and develop new standards as required, related to the design assurance and certification of Airborne Electronic Hardware