1. Purpose of the gate
This gate confirms the equipment works in the conditions of flight. The tests in the equipment qualification plan, typically run to the procedures of DO-160 in the categories agreed with the integrator, have been completed on units of an identified configuration, and each deviation has been dispositioned.
Reviewers check that the qualified configuration matches the configuration being certified, or that differences are analysed; that functional checks during each test show the equipment worked, not merely survived; and that electromagnetic and lightning results are within the equipment specification. They also check the reliability prediction and derating analysis use the same component data as the safety assessment, so the failure rates the safety case relies on are supported.
Production test procedures are drafted and correlated with qualification at this point, so production can screen units against what was qualified.
Where the equipment is supplied under a technical standard order, the qualification evidence must also show the minimum performance the order calls for, under the environmental conditions it names. Where it is supplied to an integrator, the integrator's installation requirements decide what is sufficient. Either way the report should make it easy for a reviewer to go from each requirement in the equipment specification to the test that shows it, the configuration tested and the result.
Deviations need particular care. A test failure fixed by a design change means the affected tests are repeated on the changed configuration, and the change itself goes through impact analysis, which may reach back into verification. A deviation accepted without change needs a rationale the integrator agrees with, and it must appear later in the accomplishment summary and the compliance evidence.
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