A Novel Framework for Software Testing of Multiprocessor Based Embedded System with of High Speed Synchronous Interfaces

Abstract

Embedded systems are widely used to meet the ever-increasing processing demands of today’s digital ecosystem, which spans from small household appliances to large-scale complex solutions. Embedded systems are comprised of several processing elements (PEs) which are coupled with each other via various sorts of interfaces. Embedded systems perform complex tasks in several circumstances, which may result in interprocessor communication bugs. Communication between processors and interfaces is one of the key aspects of such systems. Such systems are significantly more difficult and complex to test than non-real-time systems. Testing such systems is substantially more demanding and complicated than testing non-real-time systems. A major part of testing real-time embedded systems involves ensuring timing and accuracy in synchronous interprocessor communication. Synchronization and Interprocessor communication of real-time applications, in particular, complicate testing, and as the demand for higher data rates grows day by day, testing of these systems becomes more intricate. The embedded system developers and testers take a lot of time in debugging the bugs related to interprocessor communication, especially on high-speed interfaces. Furthermore, there is currently a gap in the research on high-speed synchronous interfaces during interprocessor communication regarding synchronization-related issues. This thesis outlines a new framework for emulating real-time embedded system communication that makes use of multiple simulators with physical high-speed serial i interfaces. The framework introduces an approach for systematically detecting all perceivable bugs linked to high-speed synchronous serial interface synchronization. The results indicate that the approach can be used to address synchronizationrelated bugs in complex embedded systems like software defined radio (SDR), which are otherwise difficult to detect and fix. Embedded systems engineers employ a variety of methods and equipment to expedite the process of locating and resolving bugs in embedded systems. Due to the enormous variety of embedded systems and their ever-increasing complexity, debugging is becoming more and more challenging. Setting up application development tools and methods is a crucial part of the development process. This thesis also presents a debugging and fault diagnostics method for multi-PC-based multiprocessor embedded systems. The proposed method’s efficiency is illustrated using a benchmark design with minimal hardware overhead. Software testing is a crucial and complex process in distributed embedded systems software testing domain. When testing teams are distributed across multiple locations or there are remote testing teams, coordinating and maintaining software, testing becomes a challenging task. The testing efforts are implemented independently due to the lack of a standard approach for distributed software testing and the lack of trusted bug repositories available. So, a distributed embedded systems software testing framework using a blockchain approach is proposed in this research to manage the interface bugs encountered during distributed embedded system development.