DO-254 Support for FPGA Design Flows

For most defense engineers, the first time they hear about the DO-254 Design Assurance Standard is in a request from their customer beginning with the words "Thou shalt comply with..." This leaves many engineers and engineering managers unsure on how to get started on the DO-254 process. Because DO-254 is a high-level, process-oriented standard, responsibility for design assurance necessarily requires a team approach among designers and suppliers. As such, defense organizations should seek out team solutions and partnerships with suppliers in order to best meet the needs of their customers.

This paper provides an overview of DO-254 standards and explains how, through partnership with Altera's team of education, consulting, IP providers, documentation providers, and solution providers, DO-254 can become a manageable cost risk for defense programs.