DDC-I’s Safety-Critical Deos Avionics RTOS First to Offer DAL-A DO-178C Certifiable Encryption

Sept. 24, 2020

DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission- and safety-critical applications, and wolfSSL, a leading provider of TLS cryptography, announced the availability of the wolfCrypt cryptography library and certification kit, certifiable to DO-178C Level A, for DDC-I’s Deos DO-178C safety-critical real-time operating system. Avionics developers now have a flexible, compact and high-performance COTS solution for quickly delivering a secure, FIPS 140-2 validated, communications.

Deos has always provided a robust foundation for secure systems. Its modularity, hard partitioning, denial of dynamic operations, integrity checks and controlled interprocess communications all make it the preferred environment for high assurance systems. The addition of wolfCrypt provides the proper cryptographic underpinnings for secure data transport, boot and firmware upgrades. Together, Deos and wolfCrypt provide trusted, military-grade security to connected avionics systems, making it ideal for not only military systems, but also Urban Air Mobility and next generation commercial avionics systems.

“DDC-I and wolfSSL provide best in class RTOS and crypto technology for DO-178C high design assurance applications that are not offered elsewhere,” said Greg Rose, vice president of marketing and product management at DDC-I. “Contrasting with the closed and restrictive approach most RTOS suppliers have taken with security, DDC-I has stayed firm to an open model leveraging third party solutions so customers can use the vendor and solution that works best for them. As a result, Deos users are empowered to incorporate the best-in-class technology available in the market, such as the products from wolfSSL, to solve their unique system requirements.”

“The integration of Deos and wolfCrypt should prove very attractive to avionics developers who require a secure, out-of-the-box, safety-critical solution that comes ready to certify, complete with DAL A evidence,” said Larry Stefonic, CEO and Founder at wolfSSL. “We have a very strong working relationship with DDC-I and find Deos to be quite straightforward to work with. Together, I believe we offer our joint customers a world class platform that features best-in-class RTOS and security.”

The wolfSSL embedded SSL library is a lightweight, portable, C language-based SSL/TLS library that targets embedded and RTOS environments for connected applications such as avionics. Featuring FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography, the compact library supports industry standards up to TLS 1.3 and DTLS 1.2, is up to 20 times smaller than OpenSSL, offers a simple API, provides an OpenSSL compatibility layer, and includes OCSP and CRL support.

To facilitate DO-178C level A certification, the wolfCrypt certification kit provides traceable artifacts for the following encryption algorithms: SHA-256 message digest; AES encryption and decryption; RSA for signing and verifying messages; and chacha20_poly1305 for authenticated encryption and decryption. Any of the FIPS 140-2 validated crypto algorithms can be used in DO-178 mode for combined FIPS 140-2/DO 178 consumption.

DDC-I’s Deos is a field proven, safety-critical, avionics RTOS that is used to host a multitude of flight critical functions, such as air data computers, air data inertial reference units, cockpit video, displays and flight instrumentation, flight management systems, engine management, and many more. Built from the ground up for safety-critical applications, Deos is the only certifiable time- and space-partitioned COTS RTOS that has been created using RTCA DO-178, Level A processes from the very first day of its product development. Deos’ unique modular design and verification evidence provides the easiest, lowest cost path to DO-178C DAL A certification, the highest level of safety criticality.