Turbocharged Testing for Your Automotive Embedded Software to Meet MISRA and ISO 26262 Standards
Competition in the automotive industry is intense. Successful companies must constantly innovate by introducing new features, many of which contain significant amounts of software. The automobile was transformed from a primarily mechanical device, into an integrated machine with embedded software in all major systems including: engine control, power train, suspension, braking, and entertainment.
Controlling cost of automotive embedded systems is extremely important for automotive industry suppliers since you have much higher volume than other safety-critical industries like avionics. Software testing has traditionally been very expensive, but the cost of finding software bugs now versus the direct costs and damaged product branding associated with recalls makes thorough testing a necessity in the automotive industry.
Automotive Software Verification and Validation Standards
ISO 26262 and MISRA are the two software standards applying to verification and validation of vehicle based software.
ISO 26262 is a Functional Safety standard currently under development, titled "Road vehicles -- Functional safety". The standard is an adaptation of the Functional Safety standard IEC 61508 for Automotive Electric/Electronic Systems. Part 6 of this standard addresses the recommendations for software testing and verification as part of the standard for software development.
Recommended activities include both unit level and system level testing such as functional tests (requirement-based tests and partition tests) and structural coverage tests.
TÜV SÜD Certified Tool for ISO 26262 Safety Related Development
The VectorCAST product family is a TÜV SÜD certified software tool for safety related development. The TÜV SÜD assessment and resulting tool qualification of the Vector Software products, offer development organizations the required evidence to demonstrate compliance with IEC 61508 and ISO 26262 standards. The Vector Software IEC Certification Kit for VectorCAST provides documentation, certificates, and templates that help you use VectorCAST on projects based on the IEC 61508 and ISO 26262 standards.
How VectorCAST Supports Your Compliance with the ISO 26262 Standard
VectorCAST embedded tools for ISO 26262 satisfies recommendations for software testing and verification specified in Part 6 of the standard for software development by supporting the creation and management of test cases to prove that the low level software requirements have been tested.
VectorCAST is also used for a variety of robustness testing activities such as range and out of bounds testing. Additionally, VectorCAST tools support capture and reporting of structural code coverage at all levels required by ISO 26262.
The VectorCAST/C++ test tools for C and C++ unit and integration testing, combined with VectorCAST/Cover for system-level test verification provide a complete dynamic test suite for host, simulator, and target level testing.
- Supports all levels of code coverage required by ISO 26262:
- Statement
- Branch
- MC/DC
- Automatic generation and compilation of complete test stubs and driver programs for unit and integration testing
- Automatic regression testing
- Requirement to test case mapping
- Robustness testing
- Out of bounds values
- Boundary condition testing
- Test execution on host, simulator, and embedded target systems
VectorCAST tools for ISO 26262 and MISRA improves performance in your exact testing environment, register today for a 30-day, fully-functional version or let us arrange a demo for your project requirements.
VectorCAST Satisfies the ISO 26262 Testing Requirements
Download the VectorCAST for ISO 26262 datasheet
Integrated Support for MISRA
Static analysis has been a big part of the automotive application development process since the advent of the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) C standard. The Guidelines for the Use of the C Language in Vehicle Based Software is a document, which was first published in 1998 to promote safe use of the C language in the automotive industry. It contains rules defining a subset of the C language that is now widely accepted as a model for good programming practice. The MISRA C++: 2008 Guidelines for the use of the C++ Language in Critical Systems standard was published in 2008 to define similar rules for the C++ language.
VectorCAST integrates with the QA·C and QA·C++ static analysis tools from Programming Research. Their MISRA C 2004 and C++ compliance modules analyze source code and detect constructs which do not comply with the MISRA rules.
VectorCAST embedded software testing products provide the following:
- Complete test-harness construction for unit and integration testing
- Test execution from GUI or scripts
- Code-coverage analysis
- Regression testing
- Automatic tests based on decision paths
- User-defined tests for requirements-based testing
- Automated coding standards enforcement with QA·C and QA·C++
- Test execution playback to assist in debugging
- Integration with Telelogic's Rhapsody® Modeling and DOORS® Requirement Tools
See the Benefits of VectorCAST for Your Automotive Applications
If you would like to see how VectorCAST tools for ISO 26262 and MISRA improves performance in your exact testing environment, register today for a 30-day, fully-functional trial.
You may also register for the embedded software testing webinar or arrange a demo for your project.