Embedded Systems: develop innovative software with higher efficiency and better ROI

Functional Safety and Compliance

Safety is the biggest challenge for Embedded System Development: companies must ensure safety when bringing a product to market as they are usually used in many critical environments. Lately, stricter standards concerning quality, testing and engineering expertise for the SDLC (Software Development LifeCycle) of Embedded System are highly required.

Stability and Traceability

The challenge related to software stability is to avoid any risk or unexpected behavior of the device. Also, developers have to provide the proofs of full-traceability for compliance audits purposes; and this, for each and every stage of the Embedded System development: from requirements to source code, through tests, bugs, to bugs resolution and validation.

Security

According to the IoT Analytics’s State of IoT Report, “by 2025, there will likely be more than 37 billion IoT connections”. This gain in popularity of IoT device solutions actually explains why more and more risks are related to security. In fact, since devices are increasingly interconnected to each other, the real challenge for developers is now to ensure their devices protection from any kind of threats.

Fast-paced change and innovation

In the very fast-paced, competitive world of Embedded Systems, product reliability is among the top criteria that matter the most. Then, developers still have to provide customers with functional product, to keep innovating as well as to reduce time-to-market.

1. Agility and Compliance

Agile practices are perfectly suitable for the development of embedded systems. Discover the power of Agile and DevOps using Tuleap Agile project management tools, to develop highly functional embedded systems.

• Great flexibility and quick adaptation to changing circumstances and environments,
• Real-time collaboration also with third parties whenever they are involved in the process,
• Shorter iterations and adaptive scheduling,
• Continuous integration, development (CI/CD) and delivery,
• Enhanced collaboration between Hardware and Software teams,
• Early testing.

2. Risk management

Risk management is crucial since any potential risk occurring throughout the development process can led to serious quality defects for embedded software systems. The Tuleap Issue Tracking module can help you design and set up a flexible, adapted and optimized system as to meet both your industry’s standards ans challenges.

• Index risks, define risk mitigation measures, make sure you have “acceptable” levels of risk,
• Create requirements approval and validation processes thanks by automating workflows,
• Generate tests and validation campaigns according to the related requirements.

3. Quality Management System (QMS)

Within highly regulated industries such as the embedded software systems one, it is crucial to rely on a quality management system (QMS) to enhance your organization, promote continuous improvement at all levels and ensure compliance (cf. ISO 9001).

• Define and implement a quality management system adapted to your business needs and industry requirements,
• Create test plans from the very beginning of the project to better monitor your products’ quality and conformity
• Standardize automated workflows throughout the development process thanks to advanced setups and triggers,
• Secure your workspace(s) and easily manage access permissions to any embedded device projects and confidential information related to each one of them.

4. Automated end-to-end traceability

In order to limit your exposure to regulatory risks, you need to prove that your are compliant via a traceable log. With Tuleap, ensure gap-free traceability throughout the whole product development lifecycle thanks to a large set of integrated tools.

• Collect, link, organize and manage all evidence on one single place,
• Get a comprehensive product history in a few clicks, listing all its related items and information gathered since the very first stages of the project,
• Achieve A to Z traceability by tracking any changes on project artifacts and components across the value chain (including the design, engineering, delivery and services phases).

5. Quality Assurance and Testing

Quality assurance (QA) testing, with a main focus on reliability, is a must for embedded software systems.

• Accelerate product validation and delivery with the Tuleap Test Management™ module, natively integrated with all the other Tuleap agile tools,
• Set and manage both automated and manual tests more efficiently for easier embedded software validation and conformity,
• Launch and analyze test and validation campaigns in real-time,
• Easily track and monitor any product’s QA activities within a single Tuleap interface.

6. Document Management

• Create requirements specification documents and easily export any Test Plan information in a document form,
• Generate a traceability matrix in a few clicks as a proof of your products’ compliance with standards (i.e. ASPICE, ISO 26262, ISO 13485, IEC 62304…),
• Share quality-related documentation both internally and externally (e.g. in case of remote audits) through Tuleap Document Manager™,
• Ensure obsolete document control for error-free archiving,
• Set document access permissions to secure your workspace(s).