Embedded Testing Vs Software Testing – Key Difference.pdf

Since Embedded testing is the process of verification and validation of both software and hardware and hence it is just differentiated from software testing.



Going through this write-up, you get to know everything about Embedded testing, Challenges in testing, and the various methods to perform embedded testing.

1. EmbeddedTestingVsSoftware
Testing–KeyDifferences
Asthecomplexityofthemodernworldgrowsbytheday,testingcurrentsoftware
hasbecomecriticalforenterprises.Periodictestingisrequiredtoensurethe
software’sfunctionalityandsystemintegrity.Similartothat,embedded
systems/hardwaredorequirepropertestingtoensurehigh-endsecurityforboth
softwareandhardware.
Thisblogoffersasubstantialdifferencebetweenembeddedtestingservicesand
regularsoftwaretesting,finelyhighlightingthechallengesaroundembedded
softwaretestingandthedifferentwaystoimplementit.
KeyDifferences:SoftwareTestingand
EmbeddedTesting
Embeddedsoftwaretestingandsoftwaretestingmayappeartobecomparable,
howeverthephrase“embedded”isthekeydifferentiator.

2. Theprocessofverifyingandvalidatingbothsoftwareandhardwareisknown
asembeddedapplicationtesting.Itassuresusthattheentireembeddedsystem,
involvingsoftwareandhardware,isdefect-free.Itisprimarilyperformedon
hardwareinordertouncoverflaws.Italsoguaranteesthatthesystemsatisfiesthe
needsoftheenduser.
EmbeddedTestingChallenges
Theprimarydifferenceslistedabovemayprovidesomeinsightintothedifficulties
thatonemayencounterwhileperformingembeddedsoftwaretesting.Herearea
fewmajorconsequencesthatsoftwareengineersneedtofaceduringembedded
testing:
ScopeofAutomation
Developersandtestengineersfaceahardtimeautomatingthingswhileworkingon
embeddedtestingprojects,asembeddedsoftwaretestingsolutionsaremore
dependableonhardwareandtheinterfacesinvolvedwithit.Thus,there’saneedto
createatestrigthatcansupportautomationforbothsoftwareandhardware.
HighHardwareDependency
Becauseofconstrainedaccesstohardware,hardwaredependencyisoneofthe
mostsignificantchallengesencounteredduringembeddedsoftwaretesting.
However,emulatorsandsimulatorsmaynotexactlymirrorthebehaviorofthe
actualdeviceandmayprovideanerroneoussenseofsystemoperationand
applicationusage.
PeriodicSoftwareUpdates
Securityfixes,RTOSupdates,kernelupgrades,andotherupgradesmustbe
performedonanembeddedsystemonaregularbasis.Suchmodificationscanhave
adirectimpactontestingprocesses,renderingthemmorecomplicated.Asaresult,
moreattentionisrequiredduringthedevelopment,production,anddeployment
processes.
RepeatableDefects
Defectsinembeddedsystemsaremoredifficulttoreproduce/recreate.This
indicatesthattheembeddedtestershouldpaymoreattentiontoeachandevery
erroroccurrence,significantlyhigherthaninaconventionalsituation.Asidefrom
collectingasmuchdataasisreasonablyrequiredtochangethesystemandlocate
thesourceofthefault.

3. HighRatioofOpen-SourceSoftware
Theavailabilityofopen-sourcecomponentsforembeddedapplicationtestingis
prettyhighanddominant.Asaresult,theylackcomprehensivetesting.Thereare
severaltestcombinationsandresultingoutcomes.
DifferentWaysofPerformingEmbedded
Testing
Therearebasicallyfivelevelsoftestingforembeddedsystemswhicharefollowed
industry-wide:
SoftwareUnitTesting
Theunitmodulecaneitherbeafunction,procedureorclass.Duringthesoftware
developmentprocess,itisaccomplishedbyisolatingapartofcodeandvalidatingits
accuracy.Unittestingistypicallycarriedoutunderthesupervisionofadeveloper
andthenpassedontoapeer-reviewmodel.Testcasesarecreatedbasedonthe
modulespecifications.
IntegrationTesting
Integrationtestingforembeddedsystemscanbefurtherclassifiedintotwopartsfor
betterunderstanding–A)SoftwareIntegrationTestingandB)Software/Hardware
IntegrationTesting

4. Itcomprisestheinteractionofsoftwarecomponentswiththehardwaredomain.This
testcanalsobeusedtoexaminetheinteractionbetweensoftwareandbuilt-in
peripheraldevices.
Embeddedapplicationtestingisalwaysperformedinareal-worldcontextthatis
similartothatofsoftware.Becausethoroughtestingcannotbeperformedina
simulatedenvironment,mosttestersregardembeddedtestingservicesasan
essentialtask.
SystemUnitTesting
Thetestmoduleisaframeworkthatcontainscompleteinformationonsoftware
codes,andthereal-timeoperatingsystem(RTOS),includingspecificsabout
communications,mechanisms,andinterruptions,amongotherthings.Fromhere,
thepointofcontrolprotocolisusedtosendcommunicationandguaranteethatitis
routedthroughtheRTOSmessagequeues.
Thedeveloperorsystemintegrationteamthenexaminesthesystemresourcesto
ensurethatthesystemcansupporttheembeddedsystemexecution.Graybox
testingisfrequentlyusedinthisprocess.
SystemIntegrationTesting
Thewholetestingmodulestartsfromasetofcomponents,includingsubsystem
components,withinasinglenod.TheControlandObservationsPointsarea
combinationofnetworkcommunicationprotocolsandRTOS,includingnetwork
messagesandRTOSevents.AdditionalmentionablecomponentssuchasVirtual
Testercanplayasimilarroletoanode.
SystemValidationTesting
Themodulewhichneedstobetestediseitheracompletesubsystemortheentire
embeddedsystem.Thegoalofthisfinaltestistomeetthefunctionalcriteriaofthe
externalentity.Itshouldbenotedthatanexternalentitycanbeeitherahumanora
deviceinatelecommunicationsnetwork,orboth.
Conclusion
Fromthispoint,itisunderstandablethatthedifficultiesinvolvedwithembedded
softwaretestingarehighercomparedtosoftwaretesting.Theheavyrelianceonthe
hardwareenvironment,whichisdevelopedconcurrentlywiththeprogramandis
frequentlynecessarytodoreliablesoftwaretesting.Itcanbedifficulttotest
softwarewithoutcustomtools,whichmakesfocusingontestinginthelatephases
extremelyappealing.

5. Partnerwithus,ImpactQAisaprominentembeddedtestingserviceprovider,which
hasbeenaggressivelyinvolvedingivingintelligentembeddedsolutionstoworldwide
organizationstostrengthentheirembeddedsystem.