No Linux OS Has RTCA DO-178B Certification

[Robert L Cochran]

Several hours of research seems to establish that no Linux OS has 
achieved any Level of Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) 
DO-178B certification, which is required by the Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA) of software systems used in flight. I've read one 
uncorroborated claim that a Linux OS (no mention of vendor name or 
kernel version) has DO-178B Level C certification for use in a Pilot 
Information Display, but a check of the manufacturer's web page for the 
part says the OS is certifiable to DO-178B, not that it is already 
certified to any particular Level within the standard.

There are Unix-like real-time OS'es that do have DO-178B certification. 
One of these is LynxOS-178 by LynuxWorks. This software is actually 
licensed from Rockwell-Collins, and uses their Virtual Machine Operating 
System (VMOS) technology, which has its own DO-178B Level A 
certification. The LynxOS-178 product was announced in 2002 but 
apparently VMOS has been around since 1988. They claim to have DO-178B 
Level C certification for one in-flight application and further claim 
they are certifiable to Level A, no doubt due to the VMOS licensing.

Green Hills Software also offers a product which is DO-178B Level A 
certifiable named Integrity-178. But this, too, is not a Linux OS.

Across the ocean, The British Health and Safety Executive issued a study 
in 2002, "RR 011 - Preliminary assessment of Linux for safety related 
systems", which concludes that the 2.4 vanilla kernel may be certifiable 
to their Safety Integrity Levels 1, 2, and 3 but probably not to Level 
4. They noted that the OS was being studied for a railroad traffic 
control application. Linux may not be certified in the UK for their 
safety systems.

Perhaps some day a Linux OS version will achieve DO-178B certification 
at some level, or a European certification at an equivalent level, but 
it is a very costly effort. The documentation requirements from the FAA 
and it's functionally equivalent agencies in other countries for such 
certification covers a lot of ground and a vendor's documentation and 
claims would be independently checked. Someone will have to pay for that 
plus the various other expenses.