LynuxWorks has launched LynxOS-178, a new version of the company's POSIX-compliant LynxOS real-time operating system (RTOS) that is said to be certifiable to the DO-178B level A U.S. FAA (Federal Aeronautics Administration) standard. The standard is commonly used to qualify safety-critical electronic systems for the military and aerospace industry.

According to LynuxWorks, LynxOS-178 originated from several enhancements made to the original LynxOS RTOS by Rockwell Collins, in creating a the Rockwell Collins' Virtual Machine Operating System (VMOS). VMOS was then certified to DO-178B level A, and now the operating system and the certification artifacts are being made available from LynuxWorks to manufacturers of safety-critical products for the military and aerospace industry.

A year ago, LynuxWorks announced that LynxOS v4 had achieved application binary interface (ABI) compatibility with Linux, allowing users to run Linux applications unmodified under LynxOS or augment real-time applications on LynxOS with applications from Linux. Today's LynxOS-178 announcement did not specify whether the special DO-178B certifiable version of LynxOS includes the Linux ABI compatibility feature of LynxOS v4.

LynuxWorks also offers BlueCat Linux, a Linux distribution and toolkit for embedded systems and devices.

About DO-178B

Developed by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), the DO-178B standard is a set of guidelines for the production of software for airborne systems. Designed to ensure that software meets airworthiness requirements, adoption of the DO-178B standard is a method of component approval in many critical aerospace, defense and other environments, including military, nuclear, medical, and communications applications.

 
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