Esterel Technologies

Who are DERs?

DERs, Designated Engineering Representatives, are experienced engineers designated by the FAA to approve engineering data used for certification. Most customers (and the FAA) will want some assurance in your DO-178B documents, and an FAA DER will provide this. All FAA projects must have an FAA representative assigned and a DER to review all submissions.

A DER is an independent specialist designated by the FAA as having authority to sign off on your project as a representative of the FAA. First, the DER may insist on witnessing such items as portions of your software testing; second, the DER may not like your documentation (or processes), hence may insist on changes to them before signoff. This is a lot easier to do during design and development than at project completion.