AdaCore has announced that its GNAT Pro Ada environment has been successfully used by Thales to develop and verify a qualified autocode generator for critical airborne software. Thales implemented the autocode generator in Ada; the tool takes an XML file and produces source code for an embedded avionics system that will be assessed against the Level B objectives in DO-178C / ED-12C.
The development process for the autocode generator has been performed according to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) DO-330 / ED-215 Tool Qualification Considerations standard, and the tool has been qualified for the avionics project at tool qualification level TQL‑2.
In addition to the compilation environment used for the development and verification of the autocode generator, several AdaCore tools have also been used for the avionics software itself. These include the GNAT Programming Studio (GPS) Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the GNATcheck coding standard verifier, and the GNATcoverage structural coverage analyzer. According to the Thales engineer in charge of the autocode generator, using an automated coding standard verifier and a qualified structural code coverage analyzer greatly helped the project complete the Tool Verification Process.
“AdaCore has a long and successful history in the avionics industry, with a growing product range that has enabled customers to develop and verify safety-critical software at the highest levels of DO-178B/C / ED-12B/C certification,” said Jamie Ayre, commercial team lead at AdaCore. “We are pleased to see GNAT Pro Ada being used by Thales, both for their application itself and also the qualified autocode generator that is producing the code.”
