Proxy Hardware Virtualization for Early Embedded Software Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The limited availability of physical hardware specifications and access issues hinder the development and testing of complex electronic systems, as developers often lack necessary hardware details for virtualization platforms, leading to delayed development and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a proxy physical hardware system emulated within a virtual machine, allowing software applications to run unmodified without requiring knowledge of the physical hardware specifications, using a hardware abstraction software layer like ARINC 653 to create a generalized virtualization platform.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If physical hardware specifications are obtained through negotiation with suppliers, then virtualization platforms can be constructed, but this process takes months and incurs restrictive costs and licensing fees
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a proxy physical hardware system that replicates the essential characteristics and behavior of the target physical hardware without requiring actual hardware specifications. This copy enables software testing and development to proceed in parallel with hardware development, eliminating the time delay caused by waiting for hardware specifications while avoiding the costs and restrictions of negotiating with hardware suppliers
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables preliminary software development and testing by creating a virtualized proxy hardware system before the actual hardware is available or before specifications are obtained. This allows development teams to perform early validation, debugging, and integration testing without waiting for hardware delivery or specification release, significantly reducing the overall development cycle
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple virtualization platforms are constructed for different hardware systems, then comprehensive testing is enabled, but construction costs and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal proxy virtualization platform that can emulate multiple different physical hardware systems through a single infrastructure. The proxy physical hardware system is designed to replicate the behavior of various hardware platforms, allowing one virtualization environment to serve multiple testing purposes across different hardware architectures, thereby reducing the need to build and maintain separate virtualization platforms for each hardware system
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a proxy physical hardware system as an intermediary layer between the software under test and the actual physical hardware. This intermediary replicates hardware behavior through software modeling, enabling comprehensive testing without requiring direct access to multiple physical hardware systems or the construction of multiple specialized virtualization platforms
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques for testing a physical hardware system by executing hardware system application software on a corresponding emulated proxy physical hardware system in a proxy virtual machine are presented. The techniques include: obtaining a proxy physical hardware system that matches aspects of the physical hardware system; constructing, in a virtualization system, the proxy virtual machine; emulating, using the virtualization system, hardware components of the proxy physical hardware system in the proxy virtual machine; executing a hardware abstraction software layer in the proxy virtual machine; executing, by the hardware abstraction software layer of the virtualization system, the hardware system application software in the proxy virtual machine on the proxy physical hardware system using a memory map at least one adapter; and testing, using the virtualization system, the physical hardware system by the executing the hardware system application software in the proxy virtual machine on the proxy physical hardware system.