Case Study: Leonardo DRS achieves DO‑178C certification and 90% faster recertification with MathWorks

Leonardo Accelerates Development and Compliance of Radar Navigation Software to DO-178C

Leonardo DRS needed to develop radar navigation software for AW101 search-and-rescue helicopters and certify it to DO‑178C, but the team had limited experience with DO‑178 processes. Working with MathWorks, Leonardo DRS adopted Model‑Based Design using MATLAB, Simulink and the DO Qualification Kit (along with Polyspace, Embedded Coder and related toolset) to extend their workflow and meet certification requirements.

MathWorks consultants helped qualify MathWorks products, establish requirements traceability, automate SIL/PIL testing and static analysis, generate MISRA‑compliant C code, and produce automated reports. The MathWorks-enabled solution cut recertification cycle times by more than 90%, increased testing throughput fourfold (to about 1,500 tests/week), produced roughly 250,000 pages of interactively linked documentation, and is expected to reduce NRE by 60–80% on similar projects.

Leonardo DRS

Calum Brown

Lead Systems Engineer