System Development
Direct interaction with hardware and software development benefits our system development, and it benefits you as well.
We offer system conception in safety-critical areas.
Through the mentioned interaction, hardware and software working hand in hand, we can present architectural options and collaborate with you to identify the strengths and advantages of implementing functionalities in software, hardware, or programmable logic (FPGA). This way, you always receive the most efficient, secure, and cost-effective solutions for your requirements.
The entire normative-regulated lifecycle adheres to the highest design assurance levels.
Expert Information
Our system development for devices and systems is based on applicable standards such as SAE ARP4754A and SAE ARP4761. By utilizing development standards and methods such as Matlab/Simulink-based modeling, we can create and test a digital twin of your requirements and algorithms at an early development stage. Based on this foundation, we can ensure optimal design considering reliability, availability, maintainability, robustness, functionality, flexibility, and applicability. Through early integration and interdisciplinary collaboration between the development and production departments, we achieve rapid time-to-market with maximum design flexibility.
Safety
Safety considerations form the foundation of safety-critical avionics development and are the backbone of our system design.
Therefore, we offer our expertise and capabilities in tool-supported reliability forecasting, safety, and risk management at the device level to ensure that the necessary reliability and fault tolerance meet all requirements during development.
The focus here is on creating safety documentation, conducting reliability and failure rate calculations, offering failure mode analysis and safety assessments, and formulating derived safety requirements for you—all throughout the product lifecycle.
Expert Information
Our safety considerations are based on common aviation and industry standards such as SAE ARP4761, MIL-HDBK-217F in conjunction with ANSI/VITA 51.1, IEC 62380, and HDBK-217Plus. Thanks to our safety analyses during development, we can integrate your requirements into an optimum design. Tools such as PTC Windchill enable us to make data-driven decisions and carry out analyses of any complexity.
Our process-oriented portfolio includes the following analysis methods:
- Security and risk management at system and device level in accordance with ARP4761
- Functional Hazard Analysis (FHA)
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA and FMECA)
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- Mean time between Failure Calculation (MTBF)
- Preliminary System Safety Assessment (PSSA)
- System Safety Assessment (SSA)
Software Development
High-performance applications, complex algorithms, and databases are essential components of avionics systems. Our expertise ranges from low-range to high-end computing applications. We focus on safety-critical embedded systems following DO-178 standards, such as data concentrators, monitoring systems, as well as complex algorithms like flight state detection and position-dependent algorithms.
Additionally, we can implement the corresponding ground control station software and test software and integrate them into the overall system.
We rely on state-of-the-art processor platforms and infrastructures to provide innovative solutions for your individual challenges.
Expert Information
Our software department operates according to the RTCA DO-178C processes up to the highest safety levels (DAL-A). By applying standards like MISRA, we can develop secure, maintainable, and efficient software that is also prepared for future challenges.
As part of the system, our software can integrate complex algorithms with minimal resource consumption on various platforms such as Power-PC and ARM. Both we and you can integrate your algorithms into our platform as part of the development activity.
Our experience also encompasses industry-specific know-how for avionics interface standards like ARINC-429, ARINC-825, and MIL-STD-1553, as well as general interfaces like PCIe, UART, SPI, and I²C. With our infrastructure and expertise, we can perform verification down to the object code level, as required for DAL-A.
FPGA Development
FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) are programmable digital components that are essential in avionics development today.
Our FPGA team eagerly immerses themselves in the black-green “Matrix” world and is ready to assist you as a development partner in creating robust and reliable FPGA designs.
Our experience encompasses complete FPGA development based on the technology of major FPGA manufacturers, as well as consulting services to address specific challenges in FPGA design implementation.
Expert Information
As part of hardware development, FPGA development strictly adheres to the RTCA DO-254 processes. Additionally, our own VHDL coding standards are rigorously applied during the manual creation of FPGA designs.
We are capable of delivering complex FPGA solutions for avionics, which may include advanced data processing algorithms or the connecting logic for controlling and operating the integrated components of an embedded system.
Algorithms for digital signal processing and video processing are gaining momentum in FPGA designs. CUONICS’ FPGA team’s expertise in this area guarantees FPGA designs tailored to the FPGA manufacturer, providing efficient solutions for high-performance designs—ranging from floating-point calculations for complex mathematical algorithms to optimized FPGA designs based on integer arithmetic. For example, we offer the development of software-defined radios, IIR/FIR filter design, decimation and interpolation filters, as well as various modulation types used in communication systems and video processing.
Math blocks (DSP slices) of FPGA devices are powerful and readily available in abundance. Collaborating with us ensures that algorithms maximize the full performance of these components, pushing them to their limits—saving you from the frequent and frantic search for a pin-compatible larger FPGA derivative during the final stages of your project. Every flip-flop, look-up table, block RAM, and DSP slice counts for us.
Our industry-specific FPGA expertise focuses on avionics interface standards such as ARINC-429 or MIL-STD-1553, as well as commonly used high- and low-speed interfaces like PCIe, UART, SPI, and I²C. FPGA verification measures are mandatory according to RTCA DO-254, and we support the verification and certification process up to DAL-A level.
Hardware Development
Printed circuit boards for avionics, which include both analog and digital circuits, must meet the highest requirements for reliability and quality. In our design process, we consider reliability from the early development phase through conducting accompanying safety analyses and adhering to aviation standards such as DO-254 up to DAL-A and IPC standards.
Our expertise covers the entire lifecycle of printed circuit boards, starting from requirements analysis, model development/simulation, circuit design, PCB design, functional testing, and documentation. Through interdisciplinary collaboration with adjacent departments such as mechanical development, software development, FPGA development, and production, we can develop and produce an optimal and cost-effective solution that meets all quality standards for our customers.
We have experience with all common industry-specific interfaces such as ARINC-429, ARINC-825, or AFDX, and we adhere to environmental simulation standards such as DO-160, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461, and MIL-STD-464. With our comprehensive expertise and high standards, we are capable of delivering high-quality and reliable printed circuit boards for avionics applications to our customers.
Expert Information
Our hardware development follows the RTCA DO-254 processes up to the highest safety levels (DAL-A). By adhering to the design standards IPC-2221 to IPC-2225, IPC-A-600, IPC-A-610, and considering reliability calculation standards such as MIL-HDBK-217F, HDBK-217Plus, IEC-TR-62380, we have the capability to meet your requirements even under the most demanding environmental and installation conditions.
We develop digital and analog circuits with a variety of functionalities, such as voltage converters, serial and parallel interfaces, memory interfaces, processor integration, compliant input protection circuits, sensors, and actuators. Our PCB design processes according to DO-254 are requirement-based and encompass the development, simulation, integration, and testing of circuit designs. To ensure efficient manufacturing, all PCBs undergo Design-for-Manufacturing (DfM) analysis.
In the field of PCB design, we support all types of printed circuit boards, including rigid, rigid-flex, and flex boards, employing various technologies such as microvias and buried vias. For impedance-sensitive components like memory chips and microprocessors, we perform impedance control as part of the signal integrity verification. Our PCB designs undergo rigorous quality control to ensure high manufacturing quality and reliability.
Mechanical Development
In aviation, mechanical components and enclosures must not only meet requirements for weight and volume but also withstand extreme stress and environmental influences. At CUONICS, we rely on a combination of the latest design tools, extensive experience, and interdisciplinary collaboration with hardware and system development to achieve the best possible results quickly and efficiently. We accompany you from the initial analysis of the spatial constraints and requirements to the creation of design data and the manufacturing of the final product.
Expert Information
Our mechanical development team possesses extensive experience in both proven and state-of-the-art techniques related to materials, strength, structures, and designs. After a thorough analysis of the spatial constraints and requirements, our experts work closely with the hardware department to drive concept development. We develop designs that fully comply with applicable environmental standards.
Thanks to our in-house prototyping capabilities, we can swiftly progress from proof of concept to comprehensive prototypes using cutting-edge tools, additive manufacturing, and CNC machining.
Using advanced CAD tools, we create precise 3D models of components, assemblies, and hardware modules. Our complete manufacturing drawings, assembly drawings, bills of materials, and manufacturing instructions ensure efficient production of mechanical components and enclosures.
Verification
Verification is crucial as it demonstrates the full compliance of a developed device and/or system with the specified requirements. At CUONICS, we place a strong focus on these verification activities as they constitute one of the most critical stages in the entire development process.
Thanks to our interdisciplinary team of specialists comprising experts in hardware, software, and mechanics, we are capable of conducting verifications of systems, devices, hardware, VHDL, and software up to DAL-A level.
By utilizing our own developed testing systems and tools, combined with industry-established tools such as LDRA, we ensure norm-compliant verification according to the development standards of RTCA DO-254 and RTCA DO-178.
Expert Information
Through our independent verification of technical requirements, we can provide complete evidence of compliance according to the development standards RTCA DO-254, RTCA DO-160, and RTCA DO-178, up to the highest safety level DAL-A. Within our processes, we qualify our test tools and infrastructure according to RTCA DO-330 to utilize automated software test results in certification environments. Our extensive experience allows us to offer a wide range of verification subjects and methods, including:
- System verification
- Device verification
- Hardware verification
- Software verification
- Verification of software models
- Simulations
- Residual bus simulation for common aviation bus systems
- LDRA unit tests
- Hardware-in-the-loop tests (HiL)
- Module tests