Eliminating Embedded Software Defects Prior to Integration Test

Research has shown that finding software faults early in the development cycle not only improves software assurance, but also reduces software development expense and time. The root causes of the majority of embedded system software defects discovered during hardware integration test have been attributed to errors in understanding and implementing requirements. The independence that typically exists between the system and software development processes provides ample opportunity for the introduction of these types of faults. This article shows a viable method of verifying object software using the same tests created to verify the system design from which the software was developed. After passing the same tests used to verify the system design, it can be said that the software has correctly implemented all of the known and tested system requirements. This method enables the discovery of functional faults prior to the integration test phase of a project.