In the past years, the drone market has undergone an extraordinary evolution in consumer sectors such as the military. In a market as demanding as this, it is essential that companies guarantee their customers maximum reliability and determinism in the final product.
This is where the importance of two fundamental steps in the design, development and production appear: Verification and validation.
Verification and validation processes in the UAV industry
Validation is a process where the product requirements are analyzed to confirm that it meets the needs of the market and for the application it is intended for. In this phase, the engineering team should work on the requirements of the equipment, considering whether these requirements are adequate for the objective pursued or not. During the validation we will test that the hardware and software do what the user expects, without entering to check if the system is in accordance with its expectations specifications.
Instead, the verification process is carried out to ensure that the product meets the specifications and previously established requirements. Verification can be done in different ways depending on the nature of the product. At Embention, mechanisms are implemented both for the verification of the hardware, through quality controls, and for the verification of software, through the execution of functional, system or integration tests. This set of assays ensures a high quality, and accurate implementation.
In other words, we could say that a product design, a PN, is validated (we check that the defined requirements are correct) and verified (we check that the product meets the design requirements). On the other hand, a manufacturing unit with a unique SN (Serial Number) is only verified, allowing to ensure that the production process has been carried out correctly.
These strict processes are fundamental in the UAV industry, where organizations are continually innovating in order to adapt to new technologies. Thus, by means of verification and validation, it is possible to guarantee that the product conforms to the needs of the application, with a high quality in the final product and according to traceability needs, an essential element to tackle a UAV or eVTOL certification project.
In engineering, verification is an essential step. At Embention we have a specific department for product verification, where our engineers carry out tests 24/7 in order to ensure the quality of our avionics products, always in compliance with the DO178C and DO254 certification standards.
The entire quality process in Embention is maintained thanks to the Embention Development Environment, implemented in all our departments. Thus, we can guarantee that our final products are top of the line and prevent any mal function when putting the product into use.
