DornerWorks

Secure Mission and Safety-Critical Applications with DDC-I’s Deos as a Guest OS on seL4 Hypervisor

Grand Rapids, MI and Phoenix, AZ – July 31, 2023 – DornerWorks, a leading engineering firm specializing in secure embedded electronics development , and DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission- and safety-critical applications, today announce advanced high assurance for mission and safety-critical applications. Without foundational security, mission and safety-critical applications can be put at great risk. By porting DDC-I’s Deos™ operating system as a guest OS on the seL4 microkernel, DornerWorks is enabling a new level of advanced security against emerging threats alongside safety-critical real-time responsiveness, enhanced performance and flexibility.

Deos from DDC-I, is a safety-critical embedded real-time operating system (RTOS), and has a proven track record of delivering higher CPU utilization through patented cache partitioning, memory pools, and safe scheduling. First certified to DO-178 DAL A in 1998, Deos provides Rate Monotonic, ARINC-653 and POSIX interfaces plus conformance to the FACE Safety Base and Safety Extended Profiles. Its space partitioning and resource allocation enforcement provide inherent isolation and a secure system design. With support for multi-core operation, industry-standard APIs and modular boot code, Deos improves performance and lowers the risk of critical applications with an easier path to certification. Its compatibility with 3rd party security software allows for seamless integration of encryption, secure networking, and key management.

seL4, the formally verified microkernel, provides a solid foundation for secure and modular software systems. Its virtual machine monitor (VMM) functionality enables the hosting of virtual machines supporting asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP), symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), or a hybrid of both. This allows for the implementation of diverse software architectures using different operating systems while maintaining robust security.

By running DDC-I’s Deos as a guest OS on the seL4 microkernel, DornerWorks empowers organizations with modernized software systems for the US Warfighter. The combination of Deos’ safety-critical features and seL4’s formal verification enhances ease of use, portability, and modularity, all while ensuring robust security.

“DornerWorks is committed to delivering innovative solutions that meet the demanding requirements of mission and safety-critical applications,” says Dr. Gregg Wildes, PhD., DornerWorks Business Development Leader. “By supporting DDC-I’s Deos as a guest OS on the seL4 microkernel, we provide our customers with a powerful combination of safety, security, and flexibility that enables them to build higher assurance systems.”

“Deos, with its industry leading safety-critical RTOS pedigree, running atop the seL4 microkernel provides a security enhanced platform for mission-critical software,” said Greg Rose, Vice President of Marketing at DDC-I. “We are very excited to be working with DornerWorks to offer the aerospace and defense market an integrated multicore platform that delivers a best-in-class secure microkernel and hosts our DO-178C verified RTOS alongside other guest operating systems for maximum software portability.”

The collaboration between DornerWorks, DDC-I, and seL4 microkernel showcases the commitment to accelerate innovation and advance high-assurance systems. Organizations can further leverage DornerWorks’ VM Composer tool to easily configure platforms to their operational requirements, unlocking the benefits of the seL4 microkernel without vendor lock-in.

Upcoming exhibits for both companies:

Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering & Technology Symposium & Modernization Update (GVSETS) https://www.ndia-mich.org/events/gvsets in Novi, MI Aug 15-17 (DornerWorks Booth 429, DDC-I Booth 135)

2023 MOSA Summit https://events.techconnect.org/MOSA_2023/index.html in Atlanta, GA Sept 18-19 (FACE and SOSA Pavillion, DornerWorks Booth 714, DDC-I Booth 715).

About DornerWorks:

DornerWorks provides technology engineering so you can focus on your customers. With embedded electronics, FPGA, and software engineering expertise, we accelerate your product development and lower risk for adopting advanced technologies. One of our specialties is virtualizing embedded platforms using secure seL4 microkernel-based solutions and the seL4 hypervisor. For more information, visit DornerWorks.com.

About DDC-I, Inc.

DDC-I, Inc. is a global supplier of real-time operating systems, software development tools, custom software development services, and legacy software system modernization solutions, with a primary focus on mission and safety critical applications. DDC-I’s customer base is an impressive “who’s who” in the commercial, military, aerospace, and safety-critical industries. DDC-I offers safety critical real-time operating systems, compilers, integrated development environments and run-time systems for C, C++, and Ada application development. For more information regarding DDC-I products, contact DDC-I at 4545 E. Shea Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85028; phone (602) 275-7172; fax (602) 252-6054; e-mail sales@ddci.com or visit https://www.ddci.com/pr2307.

DornerWorks selects DDC-I’s Deos RTOS to Host Time Sensitive Networking IP (TSN IP) Mission-Critical Avionics Software

FACE-conformant RTOS combines with deterministic TSN IP Ethernet networking to deliver open architecture MOSA/FACE/SOSA interoperability, safety and performance

 

Phoenix, AZ. May 31, 2023.  DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission and safety-critical applications, today announced that DornerWorks, a leading engineering firm specializing in advanced Ethernet networking solutions, has selected DDC-I’s Deos™ DO-178C RTOS to host its Time Sensitive Networking IP (TSN IP) mission-critical networking software. The integrated software, which runs on North Atlantic Industries’ ruggedized OpenVPX  Sensor Interface Units supporting 2-6 OpenVPX boards, is the industry’s first-ever mission-critical TSN solution that meets the highest standards of reliability and determinism for the defense and aerospace industries.

The DornerWorks TSN IP provides guaranteed and predictable end-to-end latency, bandwidth, and quality of service (QoS) for time-sensitive applications over Ethernet. Together with Deos, the DornerWorks TSN IP provides a robust and reliable Ethernet networking solution that delivers enhanced time synchronization, time scheduling, and frame-preemption features for guaranteed performance, increased system efficiency, and defense-class security.

“We’re excited to be working with DornerWorks to deliver a deterministic, high-performance, mission-critical, multicore Ethernet solution,” said Greg Rose, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at DDC-I. “The partnership brings together best-in-class RTOS and networking technologies on an integrated NAI COSA platform that is unparalleled in the aerospace and defense markets.”

“In the fast-paced world of aerospace and defense, the need for reliable, efficient Ethernet networking is paramount,” added David Johnson, FPGA Engineering Group Manager at DornerWorks. “Deos features like cache partitioning, memory pools, and multicore safe scheduling enable us to deliver our mission-critical TSN IP Ethernet networking capability in a way that maximizes performance without compromising determinism and safety criticality.”

Deos is a safety-critical embedded RTOS that employs patented cache partitioning, memory pools, and safe scheduling to deliver higher CPU utilization than any other certifiable safety-critical COTS RTOS on multi-core processors. First certified to DO-178 DAL A in 1998, Deos provides certified conformant FACE OSS Safety Base and Safety Extended Profiles that feature hard real-time response, time and space partitioning, with support for Rate Monotonic, ARINC-653 and POSIX interfaces.

SafeMC technology extends Deos’ advanced capabilities to multiple cores, enabling developers of safety-critical systems to achieve best in class multi-core performance without compromising safety critical task response and guaranteed execution time. SafeMC employs a bound multiprocessing (BMP) extension of the symmetric multiprocessing architecture (SMP), safe scheduling, and cache partitioning to minimize cross-core contention and interference patterns that affect the performance, safety criticality and certifiability of multi-core systems. These features enable avionics systems developers to address issues that could impact the safety, performance and integrity of a software airborne system as specified by the Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST).

DornerWorks TSN Ethernet IP enables the digital backbone for modern sensor systems with simple, plug-and-play interoperability that helps development teams meet Department of Defense (DoD) compliance. DornerWorks TSN Ethernet IP was developed on AMD Zynq UltraScale+ FPGAs, allowing for a mix of software and custom logic in the design process. Time synchronization and traffic scheduling is handled in the FPGA logic portion of the DornerWorks TSN solution, ensuring that messages arrive on time and as scheduled with low latency on mission-critical COTS hardware. Deos helps to provide multi-core, secure software for configuration and control of the FPGA IP, in addition to user applications to send and receive data from the network. The full TSN solution enables support for multiple types of heterogeneous traffic over a common network to reduce infrastructure costs while maintaining high security and reliability.

Using NAI’s rugged MOSA aligned Configurable Open Systems Architecture (COSA®), supporting a highly configurable 3U OpenVPX, Sensor Interface Unit for SWaP-optimized avionics applications such as aircraft interface units, flight controls computes etc., that require high-density I/O, communications, Ethernet switching and processing. Leveraging NAI’s family of 3U OpenVPX™ boards and SIU chassis providing OpenVPX card slots, that support a variety of PowerPC, Intel and ARM processor options, which can be configured with up to 12 I/O and communication function modules to accelerate the deployment of avionics systems, and supports the MOSA, OSA, SOSA™ and FACE™ technical standards.

 

About DDC-I, Inc.

DDC-I, Inc. is a global supplier of real-time operating systems, software development tools, custom software development services, and legacy software system modernization solutions, with a primary focus on mission and safety critical applications. DDC-I’s customer base is an impressive “who’s who” in the commercial, military, aerospace, and safety-critical industries. DDC-I offers safety critical real-time operating systems, compilers, integrated development environments and run-time systems for C, C++, and Ada application development. For more information regarding DDC-I products, contact DDC-I at 4545 E. Shea Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85028; phone (602) 275-7172; fax (602) 252-6054; e-mail sales@ddci.com or visit https://www.ddci.com/pr2306.

About DornerWorks

DornerWorks provides technology engineering so you can focus on your customers. With embedded electronics, FPGA, and software engineering expertise, we accelerate your product development and lower risk for adopting advanced technologies. One of our specialties is time-sensitive networking. DornerWorks is also a performer on a number of SBIR contracts, developing cybersecurity, open architecture, and other enabling technologies for the Department of Defense. For more information, visit DornerWorks.com.