RTOS Avionics Course
Online course of 300 hours in RTOS for avionics. 6 modules covering real-time operating systems, scheduling and timing analysis, synchronisation and communication, partitioning and multicore, operating system certification and a final project, with an assigned technical tutor.
RTOS Avionics Course — studying from Malta
Malta's aerospace activity is concentrated around Malta International Airport at Luqa, where aircraft maintenance, cabin interiors and aviation services form a significant part of the local economy. The island's aviation sector is supported by a long-established regulatory framework and a growing interest in drone operations and advanced air mobility. Engineers here commonly find work with aircraft maintenance organisations, aviation services providers and companies engaged in unmanned systems testing. Expertise in airworthiness, systems integration and regulatory compliance is particularly valued by employers operating within this niche but internationally connected market.
Fees for Malta: €644 (Euro), with instalments and employer sponsorship available.
Relevant bodies in Malta
Typical roles
Questions from Malta
Which professional bodies in Malta recognise engineers working in aerospace, UAM, drones and space, and how does that affect my title?
Malta's Chamber of Engineers (KSU) regulates the use of the title 'engineer' under the Engineering Profession Act. Aviation safety is overseen by the Malta Competition and Consumers Affairs Authority's aviation counterpart, Transport Malta's Civil Aviation Directorate, which licenses operators and certain technical staff. A private SEIUM qualification does not itself grant a regulated title; recognition depends on the employer or the relevant body.
Which employers in Malta might hire someone with an aerospace or drone engineering background?
Malta has an aviation sector centred on Malta International Airport, aircraft maintenance and MRO activity, and a growing drone and space-related presence at the University of Malta and in private firms. Employers vary in their hiring criteria. A private qualification can support a application, but employers will weigh it against experience and any formal credentials they require.
Can I realistically study this 1,900-hour programme while working full time in Malta, and do I need a visa?
Programmes are fully online and taught in English, so you can study from home in Malta or elsewhere without a student visa. Each student gets an assigned technical tutor. Workload should be planned around your job; 1,900 hours is substantial, so most working professionals spread it over a long period. Ask about employer sponsorship and instalment fee options before enrolling.
Take the controls.
Run a real engineering trade-off from this field. Move the sliders, watch the model react in real time and beat the challenge.
What you will be able to do
Understand the internal architecture of real-time operating systems.
Apply scheduling and response-time analysis techniques.
Design deadlock-free synchronisation and communication mechanisms.
Assess partitioning and interference on multicore platforms.
Understand the DO-178C certification packages of commercial operating systems.
Calculate and verify worst-case execution time.
Develop a flight application on a real-time operating system.
Who it's for
- Embedded software engineers.
- Real-time systems developers.
- Avionics platform engineers.
- Software verification engineers.
- Operating system integrators.
- Software certification engineers.
- Engineering or science graduates seeking to join avionics suppliers.
What you'll work with
- RTCA DO-178C / EUROCAE ED-12C (airborne software)
- ARINC 653 (partitioned avionics application interface)
- EASA AMC 20-193 (use of multicore processors)
- IEEE Std 1003.13 (POSIX realtime application environment profiles)
- The Open Group FACE Technical Standard 3.2 (Future Airborne Capability Environment)
- RTCA DO-330 / EUROCAE ED-215 (software tool qualification)
- MISRA C:2012 (C coding guidelines for critical systems)
- Wind River VxWorks
- Lynx LynxOS-178
- Green Hills INTEGRITY-178
- AbsInt aiT
- Lauterbach TRACE32
6 modules
1.1Determinism and bounded latency requirements1.2Monolithic kernels, microkernels and hypervisors1.3Tasks, threads and context switching1.4Interrupts and their latency1.5System timers and clocks1.6Memory management and the MMU1.7Board support package1.8Certifiable products on the market1.9Differences between a commercial RTOS and bare metal1.10Practical exercise: measuring interrupt latency on a board
2.1Fixed-priority scheduling2.2Rate monotonic and deadline monotonic2.3EDF scheduling and its applicability2.4Response-time analysis2.5Priority inversion and inheritance protocols2.6Priority ceiling protocol2.7Cyclic scheduling and static executives2.8Static and measurement-based WCET calculation2.9Timing margins and CPU budgets2.10Workshop: schedulability analysis of a task set
3.1Semaphores, mutexes and condition variables3.2Message queues and mailboxes3.3Shared memory and mutual exclusion3.4Events and signals between tasks3.5Deadlocks and their prevention3.6Inter-partition communication3.7POSIX PSE51 and PSE52 interfaces3.8APEX services versus POSIX3.9Safe concurrent design patterns3.10Lab: producer-consumer with bounded queues
4.1Robust time and space partitioning4.2Type 1 hypervisors in avionics4.3AMP and SMP architectures4.4Cache, bus and memory interference4.5AMC 20-193 mitigations4.6Core allocation and affinity4.7Monitoring performance counters4.8FACE operating system profile4.9Kernel security and attack surface4.10Case study: migrating a system to dual-core
5.1RTOS DO-178C certification packages5.2Reusable life-cycle data5.3MC/DC structural coverage of the kernel5.4Data coupling and control coupling analysis5.5Verification of the RTOS configuration5.6MISRA C rules in application code5.7Tool qualification with DO-3305.8Managing supplier versions and patches5.9Responsibilities of the integrator and the user5.10Practical exercise: RTOS reuse checklist
6.1Specification of the flight application6.2Task and priority design6.3Documented schedulability analysis6.4Implementation of inter-task communication6.5Operating system configuration6.6Timing measurements on the platform6.7Robustness and overload testing6.8Evidence for the certification plan6.9Report and presentation6.10Final project: final review with the tutor
How you'll learn
100% online training on the SEIUM campus, with downloadable material, recorded classes and an assigned technical tutor. There are no fixed timetables: you progress at your own pace within the intake, so you can combine it with your job.
Each module combines theory, guided reading of the original standard and applied exercises. The working software is Wind River VxWorks, Lynx LynxOS-178, Green Hills INTEGRITY-178, AbsInt aiT and Lauterbach TRACE32, in free, academic or evaluation versions. Testing is studied on real procedures for schedulability analysis of periodic tasks, latency measurement on an evaluation board and migration of applications to multicore. Assessment is continuous by module, plus the final project.
Standards covered: RTCA DO-178C / EUROCAE ED-12C, ARINC 653, EASA AMC 20-193, IEEE Std 1003.13 (POSIX PSE), The Open Group FACE Technical Standard 3.2, RTCA DO-330 / EUROCAE ED-215, MISRA C:2012.
Build it end to end
Your final project follows the real engineering workflow, step by step, reviewed by your tutor.
Where this takes you
Requirements
- No prior qualification is required.
- An internet connection and a computer capable of running the programme software.
- English sufficient to read technical standards.
Ready to start?
Send your application today. Our admissions team replies within 72 hours with your study plan and funding options.
Frequently asked questions
The programme totals 300 hours over 3 months. You set your own pace within each intake, and your tutor helps you plan the workload around your job.
You work with Wind River VxWorks, Lynx LynxOS-178, Green Hills INTEGRITY-178, AbsInt aiT and Lauterbach TRACE32, using free, academic or evaluation versions. Your tutor indicates the free alternative wherever one exists.
A SEIUM Institute certificate, awarded on passing the continuous assessment and the final project. It is SEIUM's own qualification, not an official state degree; its recognition depends on the programme completed and the regulations of each country.
Yes. Modules passed are recognised in a higher programme in the same area (postgraduate diploma or master's). Ask about the recognition policy when you enrol.
No prior qualification is required: you only need an internet connection, a computer able to run the programme software and English sufficient to read technical standards.
Start dates are set by SEIUM's faculty for each intake. Our admissions team will confirm the next available date when you apply.
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