Secure Software for Next-Gen Defense Systems
QNX plays a pivotal role in enabling software-defined defense systems, delivering modular, certifiable platforms that support real-time orchestration, secure communications, and autonomous decision-making. Defense teams rely on QNX to accelerate deployment, reduce certification risk, and ensure mission assurance across domains.
Defense ground vehicles require modular, fault-tolerant software platforms that support mixed-criticality workloads, secure communications, and autonomous operations. QNX enables real-time sensor fusion, precise control, and scalable software-defined architectures that enhance mission flexibility and safety.
From tactical drones to autonomous underwater vehicles, unmanned platforms demand hard real-time control, low latency, and secure data handling. QNX ensures precise maneuvering, sensor responsiveness, and reliable mission execution across land, sea, and air.
Weapons platforms rely on deterministic performance for guidance, targeting, and launch control. QNX delivers fault-tolerant microkernel architecture, secure boot, and runtime integrity to ensure precision and resilience under combat conditions.
Space-based ISR systems require secure communications, edge analytics, and SWaP-optimized software. QNX supports encrypted data transmission, real-time decision-making, and long-life reliability in harsh, remote environments.
Safety Certifications, Compliance, and Conformance
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Safety QNX Products Pre-Certifications:
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QNX OS forSafety
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QNX Hypervisor for Safety
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QNX Advanced Virtualization Frameworks
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IEC 61508 SIL 3
Functional safety standard for electronic systems requiring a high level of reliability and risk reduction, including transportation, energy generation and process control.
Functional safety standard for electronic systems requiring a high level of reliability and risk reduction, including transportation, energy generation and process control.
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ISO 26262 ASIL D
The highest classification of injury risk in the functional safety standards for automotive applications.
The highest classification of injury risk in the functional safety standards for automotive applications.
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ISO 9001:2015
Process and Systems for Development and Design of QNX® software.
Process and Systems for Development and Design of QNX® software.
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Software and Solutions
FAQs about QNX for Defense Systems
The QNX microkernel architecture significantly reduces the attack surface by isolating critical components, protecting them from breaches even if other parts of the system are compromised. With full encryption and secure boot mechanisms, the platform provides a solid foundation for autonomous systems, flight controls, and robotics, ensuring reliable security for defense applications.
Optimized for hard real-time performance, the operating system guarantees deterministic responses with minimal latency and jitter. This precision is essential for tasks like managing flight paths or real-time decision-making in autonomous vehicles and drones, ensuring actions are completed within strict timing constraints.
The software is built for scalability, from low-core to high-core systems, enabling seamless handling of increased workloads as hardware evolves. This ensures that systems remain efficient and capable of meeting future demands, particularly important for the long-lifecycle applications typical in the defense industry.
Certified to key industry standards like ISO/SAE 21434 for cybersecurity and ISO/IEC 27001 for information security management, the platform provides a trusted and compliant solution for securing safety- and mission-critical systems in defense environments. These successes showcase a solid infrastructure and foundation for delivering secure solutions and can facilitate compliance with other cybersecurity standards like NIST SP 800-53.
With its architecture designed for fault containment, system components are isolated so that failures in one area do not affect the overall operation. This is crucial for maintaining continuous performance in high-stakes aerospace and defense systems where uninterrupted reliability is essential.
QNX OS for Safety and QNX Hypervisor for Safety are certified to both ISO 26262 ASIL D for functional safety in automotive systems and IEC 61508 SIL 3 for industrial safety-critical applications and can be certified to DO-178C for software safety in airborne systems and ARINC 653 for partitioned, real-time environments in avionics.