Test platform connects OEMs and tier-ones

Christoph Hammerschmidt

EE Times Europe (10/12/2007 10:43 AM ET)

MUNICH, Germany — In order to enable a comprehensive test strategy for automotive projects across design processes and enterprise boundaries, Berner and Mattner has developed the software platform Messina.

The software enables design, test and production engineers to implement automated, model-based test procedures in the areas of model test (Model-in-the-loop, MiL), software test (SiL) and hardware test (HiL). With the platform, OEMs and Tier-ones can realize a comprehensive test strategy, thus countering present challenges in functional complexity and variant diversity in automotive electronics, the vendor promises.

The platform's unique selling proposal is that it widely embraces the idea of reusing models created during the design phase including Matlab/Simulink, Ascet and Autosar components. Since the test cases are hardware independent, the scenarios can be exchanged across PCs and HiL platforms for the ECUs. In a later design phase, it is possible to replace the ECU functional models against real-world signals.

For the first time, the platform enables networking, exchanging and transferring scenarios along a continuous test process chain, the company said, significantly improving the collaboration between the OEMs design departments and Tier-ones as well as between design and test departments.

The test sequences can work in real time and are programmed either in UML or in Java. The open architecture of the system as well as a multitude of interfaces allow the integration of external test editors and test libraries.