ALTEN India partnered with a pioneering hydrogen-electric aircraft company to develop and integrate the Drive Train Computer system—an essential part of the propulsion control architecture. Our team played a key role in aligning system architecture with performance and safety requirements, contributing to the design, hardware integration, and aerospace-grade verification and validation (V&V). The result: a DO-254 certifiable FADEC/Inverter subsystem that ensures clean, efficient, and reliable propulsion within the customer’s hydrogen-electric drivetrain.

Challenge:

To achieve Design Assurance Level A (DAL-A) certification—the highest safety standard in avionics—the system needed to meet strict regulatory requirements, including:

• Channel segregation: Preventing single-point failures by separating critical functions into independent hardware channels
• Hardware redundancy: Ensuring backup systems are available in real-time to maintain operation during failures
• Fault tolerance: Designing the architecture to detect, isolate, and recover from hardware or system-level faults without compromising safety

Solutions: 

ALTEN addressed the challenge with a robust and compliant design approach:

• Developed a two-lane architecture: Designed independent, parallel lanes to handle critical avionics functions separately
• Ensured functional segregation: Each lane was equipped with its own processing, power, and communication path to ensure isolation
• Integrated redundancy at system level: Both lanes worked in sync to provide real-time failover capability, enhancing fault tolerance
• Aligned with DAL-A standards: The design ensured full compliance with RTCA DO-178C and DO-254 guidelines, enabling certification readiness

Benefits Delivered:

• General-purpose, ready-to-integrate solution for FADEC and inverter systems in electric aircraft
• Supports rapid prototyping and accelerated development cycles
• DO-254 DAL-A certifiable design, with full documentation and artifacts provided
• Integrated with ARINC 653-compliant RTOS and board support package