Tool Qualification for the new Automotive Standard from a Tool Manufacturer's Perspective
Chapter 8-11 of the ISO26262 standard, a version of IEC61508 specifically “adapted” to automotive, is dedicated to confidence in the use of software tools. This standard has a specific impact on not only vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers but also on the development processes of tool manufacturers and thus the development process of the actual software tool.
This article depicts the organizational and technical measures a manufacturer ...
How reliable is Code Coverage information shown in Source Code?
100% code coverage measurement on source code is not equal to 100% code coverage measurement on object code level. The examples in this article show the the usage of complex instructions (e.g. for loop), complex conditions (e.g. if statement) or library/operating system functions add object code that is not directly traceable to source code statements. This inserted object code could include dead code or never taken code paths.... See how to find this untraceable code...
How reliable is Code Coverage information shown in Source Code?
How to overcome/avoid High Frequency Effects on Debug Interfaces - Trace Port Design Guidelines
MCUs get more and more complex by higher integration and performance at less power consumption. Due to that the on-chip trace signals are subject to (increased) signal distortion which can prevent a trace tool from capturing the trace stream correctly. Design guidelines help to overcome these high frequency effects...
How to overcome/avoid High Frequency Effects on Debug Interfaces
Future trends in medical software development and test
Intense testing for software bugs has taken up more and more space in the overall development process. Different standards for various markets are reissued or adjusted over and over to enhance system and software safety. These standards and many more, have considerable impact on the actual software development process, particularly the specified test scope.
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Embedded Software Development and Test in 2011 using a „mini-HIL“ approach
This paper describes a basic workplace setup of an embedded software developer in the year 2011. It points out today’s challenges arising from low level functionality design as well as different ways of testing such software. It includes the aspect of test automation, how to test IO drivers and how to do functional testing (black box and white box, which is code coverage) within a developer's workplace […]
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Possibilities and Limits of Software Debugging Techniques Depending on the Microcontroller/Microprocessor
The first microprocessors and microcontrollers (CPU/MCU) did not supply any runtime information for an application. The detection of software errors was very difficult and required a lot of time and substantial measurement effort. Software projects, most of them based on 8 bit microcontrollers, required little memory and had manageable code size – mostly programmed in Assembler. Today, customers do have much higher demands on tools supporting software debugging and verification. […]
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Real-time Trace Reconstruction (RTR)
Solution to circumvent the limitations of the Nexus and ARM/ETM on-chip trace
Developers are using real-time analysis tools in the development stage, to debug real-time events either not observable during “run-stop” debug sessions, or limited by the requirements of the application; such as inherently not freezable systems like engine control or pace makers. Furthermore, engineers are using real-time analysis tools in their final development stage to do performance tuning and coverage or in the test stage for HIL (hardware-in-the-loop) testing and white box testing. A typical requirement is that the real-time analysis tool must not disturb the real-time behaviour of the system. [...]
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ARM On-Chip Debug Interfaces – Chances and Limitations
When selecting and evaluating debug interfaces and tools for ARM microcontrollers
many aspects have to be regarded. This article provides some guidance what should
be taken into consideration. More detailed information is available from ARM or the
according chip manufacturer. [...]
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Error Detection by Code Coverage Analysis without Instrumenting the Code
Exhaustive testing to detect software errors constantly demands more time within
development cycles. Software errors with catastrophic consequences have often
pushed forward innovations in software analysis and testing. For example after the
explosion of Ariane 5 the code analysis tool PolySpace was introduced which could
have detected the fault in advance. [...]
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Complex Test System for the Automated Test of Standard Software Modules
The test system is capable of carrying out manual and automated tests of standard software modules. As these are standardized software elements that are parameterized in specific applications at a later stage, the test environment has to fulfil high demands on flexibility. [...]
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