Megatrends and challenges impacting automated test and automated measurement

BANGALORE, INDIA: NI, the provider of a software-defined platform that helps accelerate the development and performance of automated test and automated measurement systems, in its NI Trend Watch 2019 reporrt examined the most crucial engineering trends and challenges of the changing technology landscape, including the Internet of Things (IoT), the progression of 5G technology from prototyping to commercial deployment and autonomous driving for the masses.

“These engineering trends are disrupting industries and product testing, leading to complex, unprecedented challenges,” said Shelley Gretlein, NI vice president of global marketing. “However, they also drive extraordinary innovation, which requires a fundamental shift in our approach to automated test and automated measurement – a shift that is grounded in software-defined systems.”

NI Trend Watch 2019 delves into the following topics to inform and help automated test and automated measurement organizations prepare for the fast-approaching and exciting future of technology.

5G Ushers in a New Era of Wireless Test – 5G wireless devices will be more complex. Engineers must rethink the highly optimized techniques that have been used to test previous generations to enable the viable commercialization of 5G products and solutions.

The promises of 5G come with the cost of added complexity.

New techniques must be developed to test 5G.

New, lower cost over-the-air test will be required.

Imminent Trade-Offs for Achieving Autonomous Driving – Autonomous driving could have a major societal impact, but the industry must manage looming cost, technology and strategy trade-offs as it shifts from single- to multi-sensor advanced driver assistance systems.

Autonomous driving will challenge the cost ratio for sensor redundancy to ensure overall safety.

A software-defined test platform will be critical to keep pace with the evolution of processor architectures.

The semiconductor and automotive industries are converging as requirements for autonomous driving are impacting microprocessor architectures.

Keep Pace With a Standardized Development Process – Test engineers are capitalizing on an old trend to keep pace with a quickly modernizing test environment. They are going beyond hardware and software to standardize the process used to build and maintain test architectures.

Early standardizations focused on hardware abstraction, but modern technology is built on software.

Iterative software development processes are getting better products to customers faster.

Test organizations must move to standardized methods of iterative software development to remain competitive.

Making the IoT Work for Test – While the IoT is increasing device complexity and, in turn, increasing test complexity, it can also greatly enhance automated test workflows.

The IoT and IIoT are making test more complex.

IoT technologies can help address automated test challenges.

Engineers need to understand and focus on the use cases with the most business value.

Multi-Industry Convergence Disrupts Test Strategies – Convergence has potential to speed innovation and deliver products never imagined, but it also severely complicates test. Partnering and learning across industries can result in beneficial perspective on complex test challenges.

Technologies and processes are crossing industry boundaries, creating both pain and potential for test leaders.

Test strategies built on closed and proprietary methods put organizations at risk.

Partnerships with multi-industry companies provide the insight needed to adapt test organizations in time.