Implementation of the Collision Avoidance System for DO-178C Compliance

2025-09-20

AI Summary

Integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) safely into civil airspace necessitates collision avoidance systems compliant with DO-178C, a stringent safety standard for airborne software. Method: This paper proposes a full-lifecycle, standards-compliant development methodology integrating formal modeling (Alloy), model checking (SPIN), model-based embedded code generation (Simulink Embedded Coder), and automated verification (LDRA tool suite). It establishes an end-to-end traceability chain linking requirements, design, code, and verification artifacts, and employs formal methods to detect logical flaws early and provide mathematical correctness guarantees for critical components. Contribution/Results: Static analysis and multi-level dynamic testing demonstrate substantial improvements in code quality, structural coverage, and requirement coverage. The generated comprehensive compliance evidence package fully supports DO-178C Level A/B certification. The approach delivers a reusable, high-assurance methodology and toolchain paradigm for safety-critical avionics software development.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Model-Based Reasoning
• Application Domains: Mobility, Driving & Flight

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User model development and evaluation

Abstract

This technical report presents the detailed implementation of a Collision Avoidance System (CAS) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), developed as a case study to demonstrate a rigorous methodology for achieving DO-178C compliance in safety-critical software. The CAS is based on functional requirements inspired by NASA's Access 5 project and is designed to autonomously detect, evaluate, and avoid potential collision threats in real-time, supporting the safe integration of UAVs into civil airspace. The implementation environment combines formal methods, model-based development, and automated verification tools, including Alloy, SPIN, Simulink Embedded Coder, and the LDRA tool suite. The report documents each phase of the software lifecycle: requirements specification and validation, architectural and detailed design, coding, verification, and traceability, with a strong focus on compliance with DO-178C Design Assurance Level B objectives. Results demonstrate that formal modelling and automated toolchains enabled early detection and correction of specification defects, robust traceability, and strong evidence of verification and validation across all development stages. Static and dynamic analyses confirmed code quality and coverage, while formal verification methods provided mathematical assurance of correctness for critical components. Although the integration phase was not fully implemented, the approach proved effective in addressing certification challenges for UAV safety-critical systems. keywords Collision Avoidance System (CAS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), DO-178C compliance, Safety-critical software, Formal methods, Model-based development, Alloy, SPIN model checker, Simulink Embedded Coder, LDRA tool suite, Software verification and validation, Traceability, Certification.

Problem

• Implementing a DO-178C compliant Collision Avoidance System for UAVs
• Detecting and avoiding potential collision threats in real-time
• Providing rigorous verification and validation for safety-critical software

Innovation

• Combining formal methods with model-based development
• Using automated verification tools for DO-178C compliance
• Applying formal verification for critical component correctness