Test Methods and Tools in Model-Based Function Development

There can be no doubt that electronics, and most particularly the software they contain, are the key to innovative and marketable functionality in modern vehicles However, a high level of reliability, safety, and quality in vehicle electronics is vital. There are currently two very important trends in automotive software development:
 

• Controllers and functions are developed with the aid of simulation models. The C code needed for each specific target system is generated automatically on the basis of the models. Automatic production code generation has become a firm part of production development.
   
• As software grows in complexity, and development cycles speed up, the software that is produced must be tested as early and as exhaustively as possible. Testing is now seen as a key element in quality assurance.
  
  Model-based development methods are shifting tests from code level to model level. In the earlier development phases especially, there is still great potential for complementing largely experimental development procedures with methods of model-based, automated testing. Typical test activities in model-based function development are model-in-the-loop, software-in-the-loop, and processor-in-the-loop simulation, with back-to-back methods based on them; black-box approaches such as the classification tree method; white-box methods with coverage measurement at model and code level; and formal verification.
  
  Combining model-based development with automated testing provides a powerful and efficient collection of tools and methods, from test project management to systematic test case generation, right through to automated test evaluation and final test report generation. This paper describes the processes involved and the methods that underlie them in the overall context of testing.