Parasoft® Deutschland GmbH

28.07.2023

White Paper: How to Streamline Unit Testing for Embedded & Safety-Critical Systems

Unit testing is a fundamental software practice and, if done correctly, can increase the speed and quality of software development while simultaneously reducing risk and overall costs. In safetycritical systems, unit testing is not only required to qualify software for intended use, but it’s also a cornerstone of safety and security during verification and validation. Unfortunately, unit testing is expensive in terms of time and resources. Traditionally, someone with programming expertise is required to design, develop, and maintain unit tests. These unit tests, once written, are also fragile to changes in the software, and maintenance burdens the project as a whole. This paper outlines the key elements needed to successfully address unit testing in a way that is scalable across the entire project and organization, enabling more of the software team as a whole to contribute to the unit tests—not only the engineers.