ecu.test (known as ECU-TEST until December 2023) is a software tool developed by tracetronic GmbH, based in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, for

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and validation of

embedded systems An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as ...

. Since the first release of ecu.test in 2003, the software is used as standard tool in the development of automotive ECUs and increasingly in the development of

heavy machinery Heavy equipment or heavy machinery refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. ''Heavy equipment'' usually comprises five e ...

as well as in

factory automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

. The development of the software started within a research project on systematic testing of control units and laid the foundation for the spin-off of tracetronic GmbH from

TU Dresden TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

. ecu.test aims at the specification, implementation, documentation, execution and assessment of

test case In software engineering, a test case is a specification of the inputs, execution conditions, testing procedure, and expected results that define a single test to be executed to achieve a particular software testing objective, such as to exercise ...

s. Owing to various

test automation In software testing, test automation is the use of software separate from the software being tested to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive bu ...

methods, the tool ensures an efficient implementation of all necessary activities for the creation, execution and assessment of test cases.

Functionality

Methodology

ecu.test automates the control of the whole test environment and supports a broad range of test tools. Various abstraction layers for measured quantities allow its application on different testing levels, e.g. within the context of model in the loop, software in the loop and hardware in the loop as well as in real systems (vehicle and driver in the loop). Creating test cases using ecu.test is conducted graphically and does not require programming skills. Test-case descriptions have a generic form, which together with extensive parameterization and configuration options, allows uniform access to all test tools and thereby simplifies re-use of existing tests over multiple development phases.

Structure

ecu.test is organized in four parts: * Editor and Project manager * Configurator * Test engine * Analyzer and Protocol generator In order to create a test case, one or more sequences of test steps and their parameterizations are specified using the editor. Test steps comprise reading and evaluating measured quantities of the test object, manipulating the test environment as well as the execution of diagnostic functions and control structures. Multiple test cases can be organized using the project manager. Additional settings for test object and test environment can be made using the configurator. The execution of test cases is performed using a multi-stage test engine. The generated

log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...

data serve as the basis for the creation of test reports. Subsequent to the test execution, optional checks of recorded measured quantities are performed in the analyzer. From the results of test-execution and subsequent checks, the protocol generator produces a detailed test report, which is displayed interactively and can be archived in files and data bases.

Interfaces

ecu.test provided clear interfaces for extensions and for the integration in existing test and validation processes. A large amount of test hardware and software is supported by default. Using user-defined test steps, plug-ins and

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

scripts, additional tools can be integrated with little effort. Via a specific client-server-architecture, software tools of multiple test-bench computers in distributed test environments can be addressed. Using a COM interface, further tools, e.g. for

requirements management Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project. A require ...

revision control In software engineering, version control (also known as revision control, source control, or source code management) is a class of systems responsible for managing changes to computer programs, documents, large web sites, or other collections o ...

and

model-based testing Model-based testing is an application of model-based design for designing and optionally also executing artifacts to perform software testing or system testing. Models can be used to represent the desired behavior of a system under test (SUT), or ...

can be integrated. ecu.test supports the following hardware and software tools and is based on the following standards:ECU-TEST data sheet
(PDF; 372 kB). Retrieved 12 January 2015.

Supported hardware and software

* A&D: iTest * ASAM: ACI * ASAM: iLinkRT * ASAM: XiL * ASAP: STEP * ATI: VISION * AVL: LYNX * AVL: PUMA * Basler: pylon * Beckhoff: TwinCAT * CARLA Team: CARLA * Digitalwerk: ADTF * Digitec: MGB *

dSPACE DSpace is an open source repository software package typically used for creating open access repositories for scholarly and/or published digital content. While DSpace shares some feature overlap with content management systems and document manag ...

: AURELION *

: ControlDesk *

: ModelDesk * dSPACE: MotionDesk * dSPACE: RTMaps * dSPACE: XIL API * EA: UTA12 * EMVA: GenICam * ESI:

SimulationX SimulationX is a CAE software application running on Microsoft Windows for the physical simulation of technical systems. It is developed and sold by ESI Group. History In the mid 1980s, VEB Mikromat in Dresden (Germany) developed a progra ...

ETAS The ETAS Group is a German company which designs tools for the development of embedded systems for the automotive industry and other sectors of the embedded industry. ETAS is 100-percent subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. Business ETAS GmbH, f ...

: BOA *

: COSYM SIL *

: INCA * ETAS: LABCAR-PINCONTROL * FEP * FEP3 * FEV: Morphée * froglogic: Squish * Google: ADB * Göpel: Video Dragon * HORIBA FuelCon: TestWork * HMS: ACT - Residual bus simulation * HMS: Legacy Bus Interfaces (VCI V2) * HMS: VCI V4 * IDS: uEye * IPG: CarMaker * JS Foundation: Appium * KS Engineers: Tornado * Lauterbach: TRACE32 * MAGNA: BluePiraT * Mathworks:

MATLAB MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...

® &

Simulink Simulink is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers t ...

* Mechanical Simulation Corporation: CarSim * MicroNova: NovaCarts * Modelica Association: FMI *

National Instruments National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an American multinational company with international operation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. C ...

LabVIEW Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. The graphical language is named "G"; not to be confused with G-c ...

: VeriStand *

: VISA * OPAL-RT: RT-LAB * PEAK: PCAN * PLS: UDE * QUANCOM: QLIB * RA Consulting: DiagRA D * ROS: ROS2 * SAE: PassThru * Scienlab: Charging Discovery System * Scienlab: Energy Storage Discover * SFC: Selenium * Softing: Diagnostic Tool Set * Softing: EDIABAS * Speedgoat: Simulink RT *

Synopsys Synopsys is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Products include tools for logic synthesis and physical design ...

: Silver *

: SilverXIL *

: Virtualizer * Technica: BTS * Technica: Capture Module * The GNU Project: GDB * tracetronic: Ethernet * tracetronic: Multimedia * tracetronic: RemoteCommand * tracetronic: Serial interface * tracetronic: SSH MultiConnect * TOSUN: libTSCAN API * TTTech: TTXConnexion * Typhoon HIL: Typhoon HIL Control Center *

Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

: CANalyzer *

: CANape *

CANoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

: DYNA4 *

: SIL Kit *

: XL API * ViGEM: Car Communication Analyzer * Vires: Virtual Test Drive * VW: ODIS * X2E: Xoraya

Test management tools

* Broadcom Rally Software * IBM Engineering Test Management - ETM (former RQM) * Jama connect *

OpenText OpenText Corporation (also written ''opentext'') is a Canadian company that develops and sells enterprise information management (EIM) software. OpenText, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is Canada's fourth-largest software company ...

ALM/Quality Center (former HP Quality Center) *

ALM Octane * PTC Codebeamer * PTC Windchill (former Integrity) *

SIEMENS Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

Polarion ALM

Source code management tools

Apache Subversion Apache Subversion (often abbreviated SVN, after its command name ''svn'') is a software versioning and revision control system distributed as open source under the Apache License. Software developers use Subversion to maintain current and hist ...

Git Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...

System requirements

* OS: Windows 10 or 11, 64 bit * OS for test execution under Linux: Ubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS AMD64 * Free hard disk capacity: at least 3 GB * RAM: at least 4 GB * Screen resolution: at least Full HD (1920 x 1080)

References

:* {{refend

External links

ecu.test product page on tracetronic website
Retrieved 5 February 2020.
tracetronic GmbH
Retrieved 5 February 2020. Automotive electronics Computer-aided engineering software Control engineering Data analysis software Software testing tools