Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing
von itsbusiness AG
All physical devices, be they medical (insulin pumps, heart monitors), sensors (temperature, pressure), or drones, will have better quality and stability from a software point of view if they are automatically tested as part of the development lifecycle. The best way to do this is “Hardware-in-the-Loop” Testing.
Types of Devices
Physical devices such as insulin pumps, heart monitors, sensors (temperature, pressure, etc) are good candidates for Hardware-in-the-Loop testing.
A device is tested via its comms, be it Bluetooth (BLE), LoRa, Mobile, Wi-Fi, USB, or Ethernet.
For an example of Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing for Bluetooth devices, click here.
Advantages
Cost savings
• Reduction in manual testing (which is very expensive and time consuming).
• Automation of Testing (TOC) pays for itself after five runs.
• Early detection of defects saves costs. When defects appear in production, they are often ten times more expensive to fix.
Quality
• Good Regression Testing reduces the number of defects in the device.
• Complex algorithms can be tested during Unit Testing before Regression Testing.
• All the main functionality of the software is tested after every change.
• Increases quality of finished product.
Customer Satisfaction
A better-quality product has less issues, leading to a better customer experience.