Distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system and method

Abstract

The application provides a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system and method, the system comprises a full-digital environment, a semi-physical environment, a distributed data exchange system, a virtual-real simulation cooperative control system and a remote development debugging system; the full-digital environment and the semi-physical environment respectively execute software function simulation and hardware-in-the-loop test; the distributed data exchange system realizes data exchange between each environment and external simulation nodes; the virtual-real simulation cooperative control system applies a synchronization command and a response mechanism to ensure timing synchronization; the remote development debugging system adopts a cloud-edge-end framework to realize remote control on the full-digital environment and the semi-physical environment. The application realizes remote centralized management and cooperative control, breaks geographical restrictions, improves resource utilization and collaboration efficiency, and can be seamlessly integrated into an automatic development process, and solves the technical problems of remote collaboration difficulty, scattered resource management and inability to integrate into an automatic development process of an existing virtual-real fusion simulation system.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of computer simulation testing, in particular to a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system and method for the whole life cycle of industrial embedded software development, integration and verification. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the industrial field, with the advancement of intelligent manufacturing, the complexity of industrial embedded software is constantly improving, and the comprehensiveness, efficiency and convenience of software testing are increasingly required. Virtual simulation technology has been widely used in industrial embedded software testing because it can reduce testing costs and shorten testing cycles. Software function verification based on a full digital model has become an industry standard practice.

[0003] In order to balance the convenience of early-stage function verification and the accuracy of late-stage performance testing, a testing system combining a full-digital simulation environment and a semi-physical hardware-in-the-loop simulation environment has appeared in the prior art. Such a system usually implements data exchange between different simulation nodes based on a message middleware such as a data distribution service, and ensures the consistency of the simulation beat through a synchronization control mechanism, thereby realizing virtual-real combined testing to some extent.

[0004] However, the existing virtual-real fusion simulation system has obvious defects: first, it adopts a localized deployment mode, which requires developers and testers to operate at the location of the physical device, resulting in the inability of remote teams to collaborate. When teams are distributed in different regions, personnel need to go back and forth to the site, and the collaboration efficiency is extremely low. Second, device resources cannot be effectively shared due to physical isolation, and other teams need to wait when some teams use the device, resulting in low hardware utilization. Third, the system architecture does not consider adaptation to the automated development process, and cannot seamlessly connect with the cloud continuous integration and continuous deployment pipeline. The testing link needs manual intervention, making it difficult to realize testing automation and unable to meet the needs of modern industrial embedded software development for efficient and integrated commissioning platforms.

[0005] Through the retrieval of patent documents, it is found that the patent with publication number CN111176246A discloses a kind of distributed control system remote simulation method, comprising: connecting distributed control system;Receive the connection request sent by remote monitoring station, and send engineering file to remote monitoring station;Remote simulation request sent by remote monitoring station is received, and remote simulation request is forwarded to distributed control system;Receive processing result, and forward processing result to remote monitoring station.The patent sends engineering file to remote monitoring station, to make remote monitoring station output corresponding distributed control system operation interface, to make user can input corresponding remote simulation request in the operation interface, finally, remote simulation request is forwarded to distributed control system for processing, processing result is forwarded to remote monitoring station, to realize the remote simulation of distributed control system.The patent lacks virtual-real fusion architecture, distributed data interaction and accurate synchronization mechanism, resource utilization is low, and it is difficult to integrate into automation process.

[0006] In summary, in view of the problems of the prior art, it is a key task to be solved urgently to study a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system and method. SUMMARY

[0007] In view of the defects in the prior art, the purpose of the present application is to provide a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system and method.

[0008] According to the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system provided by the present application, the following is included:

[0009] The all-digital environment runs a plurality of virtual nodes, the virtual nodes are constructed based on digital modeling and include processor simulation models and hardware environment models for executing software function simulation;

[0010] The semi-physical environment integrates a plurality of physical hardware nodes, which are used to perform hardware-in-the-loop testing;

[0011] The distributed data exchange system is constructed using middleware based on data distribution service (DDS), and the virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and the physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment are both connected to the distributed data exchange system as simulation nodes;

[0012] The virtual-real simulation collaborative control system broadcasts synchronization beat commands to the connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system, receives responses returned by the simulation nodes after executing tasks through the distributed data exchange system, and broadcasts the next beat command after all simulation nodes complete the current beat task, to realize synchronization control in system timing;

[0013] The remote development and debugging system adopts a cloud-edge-end framework and is used for remote control, management and deployment of a full-digital environment and a semi-physical environment, the cloud-edge-end framework comprises a cloud platform, an edge gateway and terminal equipment which are sequentially connected in communication, and the terminal equipment comprises a virtual node in the full-digital environment and a physical hardware node in the semi-physical simulation environment.

[0014] Preferably, the distributed data exchange system is further provided with a physical bus adaptation service for realizing conversion between physical messages of the semi-physical environment and DDS messages.

[0015] Preferably, the cloud platform is configured as a central management platform and provides a Web access interface, user management, data storage, permission management, resource scheduling, configuration design, task arrangement and test data management and analysis.

[0016] The edge gateway is configured as a computing node deployed in a local network where the physical test equipment is located and is used for executing control instructions issued by the cloud platform and managing local equipment.

[0017] Preferably, information synchronization between the cloud platform and the edge gateway is realized through gRPC, and the remote development and debugging system supports containerized deployment and provides a file image service for uniformly managing firmware, software under test and simulation model files and realizing version control and traceability.

[0018] Preferably, the chassis of the semi-physical environment adopts a standard bus backplane and comprises a configurable target machine mainboard and an adapter board, and the adapter board is used for connecting a standardized peripheral interface daughterboard.

[0019] Preferably, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system is connected with a global clock and adopts a hierarchical clock synchronization system, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system issues a synchronization command with a future absolute execution timestamp through the distributed data exchange system, the edge gateway calculates a compensated local trigger time according to the future absolute execution timestamp in the received synchronization command and a measured network delay, and the edge gateway issues a trigger command to the terminal equipment connected thereto based on the compensated local trigger time, so as to realize distributed synchronization control.

[0020] Preferably, in the hierarchical clock synchronization system, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system of the cloud platform serves as a global master clock, the edge gateway serves as a local master clock, time synchronization with the cloud platform is realized and network delay is measured, and the terminal equipment performs time synchronization with the edge gateway connected thereto.

[0021] Preferably, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system dynamically identifies simulation nodes through a discovery mechanism of the distributed data exchange system and provides a graphical interface for management of a simulation configuration and configuration of a node connection relationship.

[0022] Preferably, the cloud platform provides a RESTful API for interfacing with external continuous integration / continuous deployment tool chains, supporting programmatic operations for resource allocation, file upload, task start / stop, status query, and result download.

[0023] The application also provides a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method, which adopts the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system and comprises the following steps:

[0024] In step S1, the remote development debugging system receives the uploaded software under test and simulation configuration file of a user, and initializes the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment according to the simulation configuration file.

[0025] In step S2, the test type is judged according to the indication of the simulation configuration file; if the test type is all-digital test, the software under test is loaded and run in the all-digital environment; if the test type involves semi-physical test, the semi-physical environment is configured and the firmware is burned, and the semi-physical environment is started after the configuration is completed.

[0026] In step S3, during the simulation running, the virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and the physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment are used as simulation nodes to exchange data through the distributed data exchange system; at the same time, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system broadcasts the synchronization beat command to all connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system, and receives the response returned by each simulation node, so as to realize the synchronization control on the system timing.

[0027] In step S4, the remote development debugging system recycles the test data from the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment to the cloud platform.

[0028] Compared with the prior art, the application has the following beneficial effects:

[0029] 1. The remote development debugging system adopting the "cloud-edge-end" framework remotely controls, manages and deploys the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment, breaks the physical geographical restrictions, allows multiple developers to share a unified test environment, and improves the hardware resource utilization rate and the team collaborative development efficiency.

[0030] 2. The application combines the all-digital environment for early-stage functional verification and the semi-physical environment for later-stage performance test, covers the whole life cycle of software from development to test, reduces the connection time of the test link, and shortens the development cycle of industrial embedded software.

[0031] 3、The distributed data exchange system based on the distributed communication middleware is used to realize data exchange among full digital environment, semi-physical environment and external simulation nodes, the remote development and debugging system supports containerized deployment, can be connected with external continuous integration server, makes test process integrated into automatic development process, and improves test automation degree.

[0032] 4、The virtual-real simulation cooperative control system is applied to synchronous command and response mechanism, global time reference is provided by high-precision network clock, network delay is compensated, the timing coordination problem of simulation nodes in distributed heterogeneous environment is solved, and the synchronization of joint debugging and testing process and the accuracy of results are ensured. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0033] Other characteristics, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent after reading the following detailed description of non-restrictive embodiments, made with reference to the attached drawings:

[0034] Figure 1 A whole structure schematic view of a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system provided for the embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0035] Figure 2 A functional module architecture view of a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system provided for the embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0036] Figure 3 A flow chart of a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method provided for the embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The present application will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments. The following embodiments will help those skilled in the art to further understand the present application, but do not limit the present application in any form. It should be pointed out that, for those skilled in the art, without departing from the concept of the present application, a number of changes and improvements can be made. These all belong to the protection scope of the present application.

[0038] The application provides a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system and method, the system comprising a full-digital environment, a semi-physical environment, a distributed data exchange system, a virtual-real simulation collaborative control system and a remote development debugging system; wherein the full-digital environment and the semi-physical environment respectively perform software function simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing; the distributed data exchange system is constructed based on a distributed communication middleware, and realizes data exchange between each environment and external simulation nodes; the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system applies a synchronization command and response mechanism to ensure timing synchronization; the remote development debugging system adopts a "cloud-edge-end" framework to realize remote control, management and deployment of the full-digital environment and the semi-physical environment. The method manages and deploys the environment through the remote development debugging system, performs simulation in the environment, exchanges data through the data exchange system and ensures synchronization through the collaborative control system. The application realizes remote centralized management and collaborative control of distributed simulation resources, breaks geographical restrictions, improves resource utilization and collaboration efficiency, and can be seamlessly integrated into an automated development process, solving the technical problems of remote collaboration difficulty, scattered resource management and inability to integrate into an automated development process of an existing virtual-real fusion simulation system caused by local deployment.

[0039] Embodiment 1:

[0040] Figure 1 A distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system provided by the embodiment of the application has the overall structure diagram shown in the figure, Figure 2 A functional module architecture diagram of a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system provided by the embodiment of the application is shown in the figure.

[0041] As shown in the Figure 1 , 2 The embodiment provides a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system, which comprises:

[0042] The full-digital environment runs a plurality of virtual nodes, the virtual nodes are constructed based on digital modeling and comprise a processor simulation model (through instruction set simulation technology) and a hardware environment model (analog peripheral), and are used for performing software function simulation without physical hardware to run target binary code.

[0043] The semi-physical environment integrates a plurality of physical hardware nodes, and the physical hardware nodes are used for performing hardware-in-the-loop testing.

[0044] In the embodiment, the semi-physical environment adopts a configurable and modular design, specifically, the chassis of the semi-physical environment adopts a PXI standard bus backboard, comprising a configurable target machine mainboard and an adapter plate, and the adapter plate is used for connecting standardized peripheral interface subboards such as a CAN interface subboard and a 1553B interface subboard.

[0045] Specifically, the configurable target machine mainboard comprises configurable processor storage space and peripheral IO mapping.

[0046] In the embodiment, the hardware reconstruction and automatic configuration process of the semi-physical environment is as follows: a user inserts and plugs corresponding peripheral interface daughter boards in the case of the semi-physical environment according to test requirements to complete hardware reconstruction, and then declares the required hardware resource type and quantity in a software-defined manner through a Web interface provided by a cloud platform of a remote development and debugging system. When the system starts, the cloud platform automatically loads corresponding drivers and FPGA configuration files for the configurable target mainboard in the case according to the software declaration of the user. At the same time, the distributed data exchange system automatically performs configuration to bind the relevant data topics and physical interfaces.

[0047] The distributed data exchange system is constructed by using middleware based on data distribution service DDS. The virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and the physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment are both connected to the distributed data exchange system as simulation nodes.

[0048] The DDS adopts a distribution / subscription mode.

[0049] Specifically, the distributed data exchange system further sets a physical bus adaptation service for realizing conversion between physical messages of the semi-physical environment and DDS messages.

[0050] The virtual-real simulation collaborative control system broadcasts a synchronous beat command to the connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system, receives a response returned by the simulation nodes after the simulation nodes execute tasks, and broadcasts a next beat command after all the simulation nodes complete the current beat task, so as to realize synchronous control on the system timing.

[0051] Specifically, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system dynamically identifies the simulation nodes through a discovery mechanism of the distributed data exchange system, and provides a graphical interface for management of simulation configurations and configuration of node connection relationships.

[0052] The remote development and debugging system adopts a cloud-edge-end framework for remote control, management and deployment of the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment. The cloud-edge-end framework includes a cloud platform, an edge gateway and terminal devices which are sequentially and communicatively connected. The terminal devices include virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical simulation environment.

[0053] Specifically, the cloud platform is configured as a central management platform, and provides a Web access interface, user management, data storage, permission management, resource scheduling, configuration design, task arrangement and test data management and analysis. The edge gateway is configured as a computing node deployed in a local network where the physical test equipment is located, and is used for executing control instructions issued by the cloud platform and managing local devices.

[0054] In this embodiment, the cloud platform backend can use a framework such as Django, the front end can use a framework such as Vue.js, and the database can use a non-relational database such as MongoDB.

[0055] Further, the cloud platform and the edge gateway synchronize information through gRPC, and the remote development and debugging system supports containerized deployment (such as using Docker) and provides file image services for unified management of firmware, tested software, and simulation model files and implementation of version control and traceability.

[0056] Further, the cloud platform provides RESTful API for interfacing with external continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI / CD) tool chains, supporting programmatic operations such as resource allocation, file upload, task start / stop, state query, and result download.

[0057] In this embodiment, the terminal device is an entity that performs simulation and testing tasks, and its control software can be developed using a high-performance language such as C++.

[0058] Specifically, the system of the embodiment also includes a global clock implemented through PTP or NTP protocol; the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system is connected with the global clock and adopts a hierarchical clock synchronization system, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system issues a synchronization command with a future absolute execution timestamp through the distributed data exchange system; the edge gateway calculates a compensated local trigger time according to the future absolute execution timestamp in the received synchronization command and the measured network delay, and issues a trigger command to the terminal device connected with the edge gateway based on the compensated local trigger time, so as to realize distributed synchronization control.

[0059] Further, in the hierarchical clock synchronization system, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system of the cloud platform serves as a global master clock, and the edge gateway serves as a local master clock, which synchronizes time with the cloud platform and measures network delay; the terminal device synchronizes time with the edge gateway connected therewith.

[0060] Embodiment 2:

[0061] The embodiment provides a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method, which is implemented on the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system in the above-mentioned embodiments, that is, the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method can be understood by those skilled in the art as a running mode of the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification system.

[0062] Figure 3 A flowchart of a distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method provided for the embodiment of the application.

[0063] As Figure 3As shown, the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging verification method comprises the following steps:

[0064] Step S1, through the remote development debugging system, the user uploaded software and simulation configuration file are received, and the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment are initialized according to the simulation configuration file;

[0065] Step S2, according to the indication of the simulation configuration file, the test type is judged; if the test type is all-digital test, the tested software is loaded and run in the all-digital environment; if the test type involves semi-physical test, the hardware configuration and firmware programming of the semi-physical environment are performed, and the semi-physical environment is started after the configuration is completed;

[0066] Step S3, during the simulation running, the virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and the physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment are used as simulation nodes to exchange data through the distributed data exchange system; at the same time, the virtual-real simulation cooperative control system broadcasts the synchronization command to all connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system, and receives the response returned by each simulation node, so as to realize the synchronization control on the system timing;

[0067] Step S4, through the remote development debugging system, the test data from the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment are recovered to the cloud platform.

[0068] Embodiment 3:

[0069] In this embodiment, through the integration of its open API and the enterprise's CI / CD tool chain (such as Jenkins), a fully automated test pipeline is realized, which comprises the following steps:

[0070] Step a1, the developer submits changes to the code repository, which triggers the integrated pipeline on the CI / CD server to start execution;

[0071] Step a2, the pipeline task on the CI / CD server first performs code compilation to generate the binary file of the tested software;

[0072] Step a3, the pipeline script calls the RESTful API provided by the system cloud platform to perform the following operations in sequence: requests and locks the test environment, uploads the generated binary file to the environment and completes the deployment, and finally instructs the system to start the predefined test task;

[0073] Step a4, during the execution of the test task, the pipeline script continues to poll the real-time status of the task through the API;

[0074] Step a5, after the polling result shows that the task is completed, the pipeline script downloads the complete test report through the API again;

[0075] Step a6, the CI / CD server analyzes the report and notifies the developer of the results.

[0076] Those skilled in the art know that, in addition to implementing the system provided by the present application and each device, module, unit thereof in the form of pure computer readable program code, the same function can also be realized by logically programming the method steps in the form of logic gates, switches, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic controllers and embedded microcontrollers. Therefore, the system provided by the present application and each device, module, unit thereof can be considered as a hardware component, and the devices, modules, units included therein for realizing various functions can also be considered as structures within the hardware component; the devices, modules, units for realizing various functions can also be considered as both software modules realizing methods and structures within hardware components.

[0077] The specific embodiments of the present application are described above. It needs to be understood that the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and various changes or modifications can be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the claims, which does not affect the essential content of the present application. The embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments can be arbitrarily combined with each other without conflict.

Claims

1. A distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system, characterized in that, include: The fully digital environment runs multiple virtual nodes, which are constructed based on digital modeling and include processor simulation models and hardware environment models for performing software function simulations. A semi-physical environment, integrating multiple physical hardware nodes, which are used to perform hardware-in-the-loop testing; The distributed data exchange system is built using middleware based on Data Distribution Service (DDS). Virtual nodes in the fully digital environment and physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment are both connected to the distributed data exchange system as simulation nodes. The virtual-real simulation collaborative control system broadcasts synchronization clock commands to the connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system; and receives responses returned by each simulation node through the distributed data exchange system after executing its tasks. After all simulation nodes have completed the current cycle task, the next cycle command is broadcast to achieve synchronous control of the system timing. The remote development and debugging system adopts a cloud-edge-device framework for remote control, management and deployment of the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment. The cloud-edge-device framework includes a cloud platform, an edge gateway and a terminal device that are connected in sequence. The terminal device includes virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment. The system also includes a global clock; the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system is connected to the global clock and adopts a hierarchical clock synchronization system; the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system issues synchronization commands with future absolute execution timestamps through the distributed data exchange system. The edge gateway calculates the compensated local trigger time based on the future absolute execution timestamp in the received synchronization command and the measured network latency, and sends a trigger command to the terminal device connected to the edge gateway based on the compensated local trigger time to achieve distributed synchronization control. In the hierarchical clock synchronization system, the virtual-real simulation collaborative control system of the cloud platform serves as the global master clock, and the edge gateway serves as the local master clock, synchronizing with the cloud platform and measuring network latency; the terminal device synchronizes with the edge gateway it is connected to. The virtual-real simulation collaborative control system dynamically identifies simulation nodes through the discovery mechanism of the distributed data exchange system, and provides a graphical interface for managing simulation configurations and configuring node connection relationships. The cloud platform provides a RESTful API for interfacing with external continuous integration / continuous deployment toolchains, supporting programmatic operations such as resource allocation, file upload, task start / stop, status query, and result download.

2. The distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The distributed data exchange system also includes a physical bus adaptation service to enable the conversion between physical messages and DDS messages in the semi-physical environment.

3. The distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cloud platform is configured as a central management platform, providing a web access interface, user management, data storage, access control, resource scheduling, configuration design, task orchestration, and test data management and analysis. The edge gateway is configured as a computing node deployed in the local network where the physical test equipment is located, and is used to execute control commands issued by the cloud platform and manage the local equipment.

4. The distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system according to claim 3, characterized in that, The cloud platform and the edge gateway synchronize information via gRPC, and the remote development and debugging system supports containerized deployment, provides file image services, and is used to uniformly manage firmware, software under test and simulation model files, and realize version control and traceability.

5. The distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The chassis of the semi-physical environment uses a standard bus backplane, including a configurable target motherboard and an adapter board, which is used to connect standardized peripheral interface daughterboards.

6. A distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification method, employing the distributed virtual-real fusion remote debugging and verification system according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step S1: Receive the software under test and simulation configuration file uploaded by the user through the remote development and debugging system, and initialize the all-digital environment and the semi-physical environment according to the simulation configuration file. Step S2: Determine the test type according to the instructions in the simulation configuration file; if the test type is a fully digital test, load and run the software under test in the fully digital environment; if the test type involves a semi-physical test, perform hardware configuration and firmware flashing on the semi-physical environment, and start the semi-physical environment after configuration. Step S3: During the simulation operation, the virtual nodes in the all-digital environment and the physical hardware nodes in the semi-physical environment interact with each other as simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system. At the same time, the virtual-physical simulation collaborative control system broadcasts a synchronization clock command to all connected simulation nodes through the distributed data exchange system and receives responses from each simulation node to achieve synchronous control of the system timing. Step S4: Through the remote development and debugging system, test data is collected from the fully digital environment and the semi-physical environment and transferred to the cloud platform.

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