ASAM ATX

The increasing complexity in the field of automotive electronics together with extended quality requirements causes additional investments for test automation. A lot of ECU projects use customized and vendor-specific turn-key test systems. For instance, such test systems typically use test automation software that is rigidly coupled with specific measurement & calibration hardware. The test automation software additionally stores test cases  in proprietary formats. As a consequence of this, the choice of test software and test hardware, which can work together seamlessly, is very limited and often dictated by the turn-key system vendor.

If a user of testing systems is determined to use best-in-class systems that do not originate from one vendor, he will be confronted with an increased workload to maintain the different systems with regards to know-how, support, version compatibility and other issues. This is particularly true when different software systems are used for test case development. This can lead to the following problems:

• Know-how cannot be easily transferred from one test bench to the other (additional training costs for employees)
• Switch to the newest testing technology will always be difficult because of tool-specific formats and test-hardware incompatibility
• Test cases cannot be easily ported from one test system to another

ASAM ATX (Automotive Test Exchange) overcomes those issues by providing a standardized XML format, which enables the exchange of test data between different test systems. ATX supports the ISTQB "Certified Tester" syllabus methodology and can be used for many activities in the test process, e.g. test specification, test planning, test execution and test evaluation. The following data is handled by ASAM ATX:

• Test projects
• Test specifications
• Meta data of test cases, test steps and test actions, e.g. version information, documentation and implementation information
• Test programs
• Test libraries
• Test data (parameter values)
• Test suites (execution plans)
• Test reports and test result data

ASAM ATX is frequently used in conjunction with ASAM HIL in hardware-in-the-loop test systems.

Standard Authors

ALL4TEC, Audi AG, Berner & Mattner Systemtechnik GmbH, BMW AG, dSPACE GmbH, Daimler AG, ETAS GmbH, MAN Truck & Bus AG, MBtech Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, M&K Mess- und Kommunikationstechnik GmbH, Robert Bosch GmbH, TraceTronic GmbH, Vector Informatik GmbH, XI-Works.