PiL testing for microcontroller projects

Early testing improves software quality and saves time. Processor-in-the-Loop (PiL) testing lets you do it on the real microcontroller: your tests run on the actual chip, they stimulate and observe its pins, and they work long before the target hardware exists.

This training is for anyone who wants to go deeper into development-accompanying testing — whether your team already uses unit tests consistently, or developers and testers are moving closer together for the first time. We focus exclusively on the special conditions of microcontroller software.

Two interactive days: we discuss the theory of unit, integration and system testing, you apply each of them on ExecutionPlatform test devices, and we work out how they fit your project.

Outline

  • Introduction to Pil-Testing and principles compared to Hardware-in-the-Loop.
  • The test pyramid for embedded projects
  • The ExecutionPlatform as a PiL test system: Code Interface, Endpoints, ep-config
  • Unit tests, off-target on a PC versus on-target on the microcontroller
  • Stubs and mocks for isolating dependencies, on-target benchmarks to verify timing behavior
  • Hardware/software integration tests at pin level: test hardware abstraction layer and drivers
  • System tests against your firmware, with a digital twin of its environment
  • Logic analyzer views, and debugging firmware while a test runs
  • Testing legacy projects

Hands-on exercises

Each participant gets a personal environment: Visual Studio Code in the browser, a real ExecutionPlatform with a microcontroller board, and a logic analyzer on the signals. Nothing to install.

Benefits

Participants leave with a sound understanding of development-accompanying testing: what unit, integration and system tests can realistically do during development, and which level verifies a given requirement most cheaply. With that, they can implement a targeted test approach for their own microcontroller projects.

We use the ExecutionPlatform for all exercises — a substantial part of the training covers working with it. The underlying concepts transfer easily to other frameworks and test systems.

Note: General test theory and test management are not part of this training.

Your training with us

Target group: Embedded developer and tester
Duration: 2 days
Participants: up to 8
Language: English or German
Location: Presence only. On-site or in our training center in Lübeck, Germany.
Contact Sales for prices, available dates and more details.