BSP Automated Validation

With the growing importance of connectivity features in automotive, medical devices, and consumer electronics, System on a Chip (SoC) BSP (Board Support Package) has the main goal of improving a product’s final overall performance. The BSP’s ability to boot and run an embedded system increases its value within industry standards while simultaneously fostering the need for thorough validation and verification during the product development process.  

Another major factor in the product development process is traceability to the product’s requirements, which ensures that all previously defined capabilities and functionalities are maintained throughout the product implementation. Using the V-Model as a basic guideline, test cases for the Linux Kernel based systems (also Embedded Android) and BSP are broken down into specific requirements and use cases. During Linux/Android system development, each feature can be traced to specific product requirements, system requirements, and use cases. 

Recognizing design and implementation issues early in the development process is a well-known method to reduce costs and to avoid significant changes in the product that can occur later during the production stage. Therefore, automated testing is considered an industry-standard in most software development industry branches due to its cost-effectiveness and positive impact on product performance accuracy. 

The BSP validation and verification process requires a real-time environment capable of selecting and triggering many complex scenarios for different hardware platforms. This process has the main objective of controlling and managing the operating system’s life cycle. 

A fully automated system capable of testing the BSP software on real hardware is provided as a product and a service solution focusing on the abovementioned requirements. L4B provides a full infrastructure, hardware, and integration of Continuous Integration (CI) tools and systems and services, which allow the BSP Automated Framework to be fully tailored to each customer’s and product’s needs and particularities.  

The Automation Framework provides:

● A full end-to-end solution for selecting the desired test cases

● Individual test execution schedule (e.g., weekly)

● In-depth reports and analysis of the issues encountered in the corresponding test run

L4B’s expertise does not stop there. We are a competent and reliable partner for managing tests and defects and ensuring that the test results lead to a concrete adaptation of the developed software.  

Our BSP validation lab automatically: 

● Modifies the test image (if applicable) 

● Powers the hardware target board for testing 

● Flashes the target board via the relevant flashing procedure (QDL, Fastboot, uboot, etc.)

● Reboots the board to the new image and offers a remote login

● Configures the target board for the testing platform

● Installs all required testing software 

● Remote test scheduling and execution

● Retrieval of test results and logs

● Report generation

Fully Configurable Test Cases  

Our system supports running tests from existing industry-standard testing suites such as:  

● Tailored Requirement Based Test Cases  

● Linux Testing Project (LTP)

● Xfstests 

● Android Compatibility Testing Suite (CTS) 

● Android Vendor Testing Suite (VTS) 

● System Call Fuzzers

For the non-standard tailored test cases according to the project needs, the requirements for the validation of the BSP and the KPIs are defined according to product and system requirements, ensuring end-to-end traceability within the V-Model. 

The test cases can vary from simple high-level functionality tests to stress tests based on more complex device lifecycles. Once defined, our experts will implement additional test cases and integrate them into the overall infrastructure to be available for automated execution. 

Managed Virtual Lab 

The Virtual Lab contains the different variants on which the tests and test development are being implemented. 

This Lab is constructed with different managed layers that allow accessing the DUT’s (device under test) and the various hardware components that control the DUT’s such as cambrionix, control stations, and more.  

The efficient architecture allows management of devices between the test developers and test execution jobs, reducing the number of hardware variants needed for test execution and test case development and bug fixing.  

Custom Test and Custom Reports 

In the context of BSP validation, flexibility to support different tasks in parallel and system stability are mandatory. For this requirement, our system allows users to connect remotely and trigger different test suites based on their needs. 

Furthermore, the test execution can be scheduled and triggered according to a predefined test execution plan. All test executions generate automatic reports tailored to customers’ needs.  

A modular setup development allows adding additional testing suites with specific test cases at any product development stage.   

We react flexibly and quickly since our main goal is to satisfy our customers and provide excellent and consistent service as a partner to support during each and any stage of your product development process.  

L4B has hands-on experience and extensive knowledge with BSP automation validation. We provide high-quality solutions that target our customer requirements so that they can rapidly test and deploy reliable and cost-effective solutions. We do this with our custom tests, analysis, and reports based on our customer needs, a managed lab where tests can run on hardware variants, and automation frameworks for an end-to-end solution for selecting the desired test cases. Together with our customers, we can help produce high-quality embedded products that improve the quality of vehicles and safety of drivers.

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