Software testing tool cuts on-target footprint by 60%

LDRA has optimised the LDRA tool suite target implementation to offer the same comprehensive software test and verification capabilities with a 60 per cent smaller on-target footprint. According to the company, the reduced footprint significantly cuts test overhead so that time-critical dependencies can be properly traced. Instrumentation overhead no longer interferes with the real-time execution on the target, added LDRA.

The company has added an innovative form of instrumentation that integrates all platform coverage dependencies into one structure. LDRA dramatically reduces the application footprint by using this instrumentation together with an approach that eliminates library calls for target platforms and communication ports during the testing. By using a bitmap structure, test execution overhead can be as little as one hundred bytes.

With such a minimal footprint, not only can developers fully instrument applications on resource-constrained platforms, but they are also able to instrument all of their code in a single build on many targets. System-level testing can be completed more quickly as most testing can be accomplished in a single pass.

Optimising the LDRA tool suite to enable the test environment to mirror the speed and functionality of application execution is one of many technology breakthroughs that LDRA has achieved. With the on-target footprint reduced, test cases can execute in times very close to normal target execution. With the test environment mirroring the production environment, developers gain complete end-to-end verification of complex, timing-critical code. This opens new frontiers for multicore environments, where instrumentation overhead has traditionally blocked certification across all industries.

In addition, with the instrumentation integrating all platform coverage dependencies into one structure, a single source file configures both LDRA Testbed, the core static and dynamic analysis engine, and TBrun, LDRA's comprehensive unit and integration test component for data transmission to the host. This streamlined approach increases customer flexibility so they can readily make configuration adjustments. For instance, applications using JTAG communications to monitor and debug during test can be reconfigured to the serial, I2C or SPI communications ports more commonly found on production boards.