DO-254 Overview Online Training (EC-CERT-HW)

Course overview

EC-CERT-HW provides a clear explanation of how development assurance is applied to hardware development and identifies the related A(M)C materials. Following on from the fundamentals of certification and safety, it explains the key activities expected in the development assurance processes for aircraft and hardware development and how they relate to the certification activities.

On completion, attendees understand the development assurance objectives for hardware development and the scope of the objectives applied to the hardware development processes. The course also explains the fundamental activities during hardware development and verification and the expectations for showing compliance to DO-254.

What you will learn

• Systems, safety, hardware, and software processes overview
• Objectives and IDALs
• Additional guidance (AMC 20-152A and AMC 20-189)
• Hardware requirements structures
• The Conceptual Design process (Equipment, CBA, Complex Device)
• The Detailed Design process (Equipment, CBA, Complex Device)
• The Implementation process (Equipment, CBA, Complex Device)
• The Production Transition process (Equipment, CBA, Complex Device)
• Interactions with the systems process
• Interactions with the safety assessment process
• Integral processes
• Showing compliance

Who should take this course

Early-career hardware engineers and newcomers to airborne electronic hardware certification who need a foundational understanding of the DO-254 development assurance process.

Recommended prerequisite: EC-CERT-101 — Introduction to Development Assurance (Systems, Hardware and Software)

The hardware design lifecycle at a glance

DO-254 can look intimidating to a newcomer, but at heart it follows a logical lifecycle, and seeing that shape first makes the detail far easier to absorb. Airborne electronic hardware moves through conceptual design, detailed design, implementation and production transition, and DO-254 attaches objectives to each stage so that a complex device — an FPGA or ASIC — is developed under the same kind of discipline as airborne software. Around that core sit the integral processes (validation, verification, configuration management and process assurance) that run throughout.

What this overview gives an early-career engineer is the why behind each stage: how the Item Development Assurance Level (IDAL) sets the rigor, how the additional A(M)C 20-152A and 20-189 guidance fits in, and how the hardware effort connects upward to the systems and safety processes that justify it. Rather than memorizing objectives in isolation, you come away able to place any DO-254 activity in the lifecycle and understand what it is for — the orientation that makes the deeper, hands-on hardware courses click.

What you will be able to do afterward

After EC-CERT-HW you will be able to describe the DO-254 hardware lifecycle end to end, explain how IDAL drives the objectives, identify the relevant A(M)C guidance, and understand what “showing compliance” means for airborne electronic hardware.

Where this fits in your learning path

EC-CERT-HW follows EC-CERT-101 and prepares you for the practitioner DO-254 track, starting with HW-CERT-101 (Overview & PHAC). For a written primer, see our DO-254 explained guide. Prefer instructor-led? Explore our full DO-254 training courses.

How on-demand training works

Every ConsuNova module is delivered online and self-paced, so you can learn on your own schedule. Each purchase includes 30-day access with unlimited views and downloads for one user, and a certificate of completion is issued automatically when you finish the module.

Your instructors

This module is authored and delivered by ConsuNova’s senior certification authorities, giving you both FAA and EASA perspectives on compliance:

Reza Madjidi FAA DER Consultant

Provides FAA Designated Engineering Representative expertise on U.S. avionics certification.

Martin Beeby EASA CVE Authorized

Brings EASA Certification Verification Engineer authority on European avionics compliance.

Frequently asked questions