Testing that electronic equipment designed in the aviation world always works correctly under certain environmental conditions is a very important step. What the environmental tests will be and how they will be carried out can be conveyed by your customer. However, in the aviation world, instead of specifying the tests that the customer wants one by one, a test guide is pointed out. For avionic equipment in civil aviation, the use of RTCA DO-160 Environmental Conditions and Equipment Test Procedures for Aircraft (DO-160 for short) is generally requested.

DO-160 is a guide that includes tests designed for different environmental conditions and different situations and methods on how to apply these tests. This guide also includes reference values for test acceptance conditions. DO-160 tests are grouped under 26 different test headings, and under almost all of them, there are subcategories that vary depending on the type of aircraft, the altitude at which it flies, where the equipment will be located on the aircraft, and whether this place has climate control or not.

While all of the tests in DO-160 can be applied to an electronic equipment, only some of them can also be applied. Which tests will be applied to the equipment are determined by the rules set by the aviation authority, the customer and the system engineer. In addition, the system engineer determines in agreement with the customer which category the tests will be in.

After the tests and the categories of these tests are determined, the DO-160 document explains step by step how to set up the test equipment required to perform the specified tests. In addition, it also explains in detail how to take measurements, what testing equipment to use, and how long to take a test after running.

Section 4 - Temperature and Altitude

Section 5- Temperature Change

Section 6- Humidty

Section 7 - Operational Shocks and Crash Safety

Section 8 - Vibration

Section 9 - Explosion Protection

Section 10 - Waterproofing

Section 11 - Sensitivity to Liquids

Section 12 - Sand and Dust

Section 13-Fungal Resistance

Section 14 - Salt Spray

Section 15 - Magnetic Effect

Section 16 - Power Input

Section 17 - Voltage Surge

Section 18 - Audio Frequency Conductive Sensitivity - Power Inputs

Section 19 - Evoked Signal Sensitivity

Section 20 - Radio Frequency Sensitivity (Radiated and Conducted)

Section 21 - Emission of Radio Frequency Energy

Section 22 - Transient Susceptibility Due to Lightning

Section 24 - Icing

Section 25 - Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)