MathWorks And Mentor together tune their tools for designing DO-254 compliant electronics

The MathWorks and Mentor Graphics are collaborating to provide guidance on an integrated workflow for DO-254 compliance using Model-Based Design. The approach combines tools from The MathWorks and Mentor Graphics to support Model-Based Design throughout all stages of the development process, including requirements definition and management, conceptual and detailed design, implementation, and testing. The integrated workflow advantages include speeding up of HDL coding, reuse of design and verification effort, and more easily manage requirements and test cases throughout development process.

In the new DO-254 workflow, engineers begin with Mentor Graphics ReqTracer to collect and manage requirements. From the requirements, an executable Simulink model is used to develop and explore a conceptual design including implementation details such as fixed-point effects. Model blocks can be linked directly to requirements in ReqTracer to ensure traceability. Using verification and validation tools from The MathWorks, engineers can then perform functional testing and formal analysis at the conceptual model level. These design and verification capabilities allow engineers to ensure that the conceptual design is fully tested, traceable to requirements, and meets all necessary requirements. From this fully tested model, a detailed design in HDL can be automatically generated with Simulink HDL Coder.

"Our aerospace customers have been seeking assurances that they can leverage conceptual design work throughout the software and hardware design flow," said Michelle Lange, DO-254 program manager at Mentor Graphics. "The opportunity to integrate with The MathWorks was a compelling proposition because of their strong offering in Model-Based Design along with their desire to support a DO-254 compliant workflow. Adding these capabilities to our DO-254 workflow will reduce our customers' design implementation and verification time."

"DO-254 compliance is a major focus for our customers and one of the key challenges is the need to improve productivity by reusing designs and automating documentation and verification activities," said Jon Friedman, aerospace and defense industry marketing manager at The MathWorks. "By demonstrating an integrated workflow with Mentor Graphics, we address this and also further extend the benefits of Model-Based Design from HDL simulation and analysis through synthesis and implementation."

Adopting Model-Based Design for DO-254 certification with MathWorks tools is explained further at www.mathworks.com/do-254, and the Mentor Graphics DO-254 approach is detailed at www.mentor.com/go/do-254.

Learn more about the joint workflow in the whitepaper available at: http://www.mathworks.com/aerospace-defense/standards/do-254.html
DO-254: The DO-254 standard are used for designing complex electronic hardware in airborne systems and devices such as like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), and ASICs.