RTCA DO-160 Testing
Environmental & EMC testing for private and commercial aircraft components
DO-160 testing was created by a non-for-profit organization called the RTCA, which is a professional group of aerospace engineers looking after the quality and reliability of private and commercial aviation. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) here in the United States adopted the DO-160 test requirements to certify a new component on an aircraft. The certification requires proof of DO-160 testing, and depending on how critical the component is to the safety and operation of an aircraft, a DER (Designated Engineering Representative) certified by the FAA must approve the testing and submit approval to the FAA. Only a certain subset of the testing is required, and the following is a chart to determine which DO-160 testing is appropriate:
Selection Guide
Please see the DO-160 Selection Guide
The following tests and criteria can be performed at PTI for DO-160 compliance:
DO-160 Compliance Testing
Environmental Testing
| Test | Section | Categories (a.k.a. Criteria) |
| Static Abuse Load Test | Section 4.2a | |
| Dynamic Ball Impact Test | Section 4.2b | |
| Temperature - Low, Ground / Short Term Operating | Section 4.5.1 | |
| Temperature - Low, Operating | Section 4.5.2 | |
| Temperature - High, Ground / Short Term Operating | Section 4.5.3 | |
| Temperature - High, Operating | Section 4.5.4 | |
| In-flight Loss of Cooling | Section 4.5.5 | |
| Altitude | Section 4.6.1 | |
| Decompression | Section 4.6.2 | |
| Overpressure | Section 4.6.3 | |
| Temperature Variation | Section 5.3.1 | A, B, C, S1, S2 |
| Humidity | Section 6 | A, B, C |
| Operational Shock | Section 7 | Operational, Crash (impulse), Crash (sustained) |
| Standard Vibration (Cat S)- Sinusoidal Vibration | Section 8 | S (sine and random), H, Z, R, U2, U |
| Water Ingress | Section 10 | Y, W, R, S |
| Dust Testing | Section 12.4 | D, S |
| Salt Fog: Normal Salt Fog (Cat S) | Section 14 | S, T |
Electromagnetic Compatibility Testing
| Test | Section | Categories (a.k.a. Criteria) |
| Magnetic effect | Section 15 | YY |
| Power input | Section 16 | Z, S, Q |
| Voltage Spike | Section 17 | S, Q |
| Audio Freq Cond Susc. | Section 18 | S, Q |
| Induced Signal Susc. | Section 19 | A, B, XX, YY |
| Cond RF Susc | Section 20.3 | YY |
| Radiated RF Susc | Section 20.5 | S, Q |
| Conducted Emissions | Section 21.3 | S, Q, T |
| Radiated Emissions | Section 21.4 | T, R, A |
| Lightning Induced | Section 22 | level 1, 2, 3 |
| Electrostatic Discharge | Section 25 | N/A |
