Applying software engineering practices to produce reliable, high-quality and accurate automated test systems

Test engineers developing test systems for mission-critical applications have to prove that the test system is reliable and accurate. As a result, software engineering practices are becoming increasingly important in order to mitigate any risk of failure that could result in costly downtime, incorrect behavior, or safety failures. Quality standards such as CMMI and ISO mandate regiment practices for tightly controlled development environments. Similarly, software for in flight software is required to demonstrate compliance with DO-178B and similar certification standards. While these standards improve quality and reliability, they increase the development time. As a result, engineers often spend a significant amount of time documenting, testing, and validating their work. The appropriate use of software engineering tools can automate and improve much of this process to increase efficiency and the effectiveness of testing and decrease the amount of time required. This article will provide an overview of practices for using these tools when developing large, complex test systems.