Get more done in less time and on smaller budgets.
Testing embedded software and firmware can be tricky. Traditionally, embedded software is tightly coupled to hardware, which makes testing software without the hardware challenging. The rising complexity of embedded systems and the demand for an ever-growing feature list have made quality—specifically testing—a significant issue. Teams can leverage several modern techniques to ensure their embedded software is testable.
Hardware abstraction layers
Developers can ensure testability and portability across different hardware platforms by decoupling the application code from the hardware. A cornerstone of modern embedded software testing is the implementation of a hardware abstraction layer (HAL). This acts as a bridge between the software that interacts with the hardware and the higher-level application code.
Consider an embedded system responsible for sensor data processing. The HAL would provide a consistent interface for sensor data acquisition, regardless of the underlying sensor hardware. This allows testers to inject simulated sensor data through the HAL for testing the processing logic without needing the actual hardware sensor. The result is a more flexible and efficient testing process that can be conducted early and in parallel with hardware development.
Unit test harnesses
Once a team has a good hardware abstraction layer, they can more readily unit-test their application code. Unit testing is a methodology where individual units of source code are tested to determine whether they operate as expected. Teams can use many open-source and commercial tools, such as CppUTest, Unity, GoogleTest, etc.
These tools allow developers to verify functionality and track their test coverage. For example, CppUTest provides a simple platform for writing and running unit tests in C and C++. It includes features such as memory leak detection and minimal platform dependency, which are particularly useful for resource-constrained embedded systems.
Automate test workflows
Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines allow teams to run their tests continuously and identify issues. These tools automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software, ensuring that every change made to the codebase is verified. Automated verification includes running a suite of tests ranging from simple unit tests to complex integration and system tests. These tests can be run with every code commit, every merge, and even nightly to ensure nothing has gone amiss.
Modernize your testing
Leveraging modern testing techniques is essential with the demand to get more done in less time and on smaller budgets. To succeed, you must have well-defined HAL, unit testing, and test automation processes. Each of these elements plays a vital role in ensuring that embedded software meets the highest quality and performance standards. As the field advances, these testing techniques will become ever more integral to the development lifecycle of embedded systems.