Compliance with industry standards is not something you can skip or build in later—it is an integral part of the entire embedded software development process. It has always been crucial, considering that many industries—avionics, automotive, and healthcare, just to name a few—require highly sophisticated, safety- or life-critical embedded systems. In recent years, however, the role compliance tracking and embedded software testing play in the development cycle has greatly evolved, overturning the whole game’s rules. And when the rules of the game change, you have to change with them to win.
As the new, cutting-edge, and disruptive technologies hit the IT world, companies need to get to market quickly with a product that is reliable, safe, secure, user-friendly, versatile, and interoperable simply to avoid getting lost in a rapidly advancing technological environment. In such circumstances, the traditional waterfall model, where a design process is strictly sequential and testing comes at the very end of the entire development process, becomes a thing of the past. The DevOps and Agile methodologies are gaining wide popularity, as they allow engineers to deliver continuously and perform tasks that used to be sequential simultaneously. It is no longer a waterfall but a whirlpool!
An independent survey conducted by LTM Research on behalf of Auriga shows that this change in the way testing is sequenced and executed in the development cycle has never been more significant. Under the constant pressure to release faster, manufacturers still cannot sacrifice product quality, reliability, and safety. The much-hyped connected and autonomous cars, for example, are potentially high-risk vehicles that incorporate systems and applications requiring standards compliance. Embedded software testing is needed as well, because practically every solution in the field of IoT and connectivity is built on embedded technologies.
All industries strive for innovation, rapid development, and process parallelization, making embedded software testing even more important. In healthcare, where standards have traditionally been high, there is a huge demand for increasingly complex and accurate algorithms, such as an automatic cardiac rhythm recognition algorithm, which Auriga’s engineers are now working on. The new intelligent hospital systems, smart medical devices, and health wearables that emerge nearly every day must be both safe and secure.
Speaking of security, it is important to mention banking and finance and the growing interest in biometrics. The use of fingerprints, retina scans, and voice and facial recognition is where authentication is heading, moving away from traditional passwords. Manufacturers have to be sure embedded software used to scan people’s eyes and fingertips is standards compliant, secure, and resistant to fraud, which is only increasing in scope and sophistication.
Leonid Migunov, Auriga’s testing expert, added the following on the topic:
Today’s smart devices and systems—be it vehicles, industrial solutions, medical equipment, or consumer electronics—cannot exist without embedded software, and high-quality software cannot be created without continuous testing and rigorous compliance tracking.
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