Capstone Project

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Group 2008-11 Status completed
Title BogozmaBench: reconfigurable hardware/software testing system with database back-end
Supervisor Dr. S. Tahar
Description The manufacturing of electronic systems in customer-focused organizations requires a strong commitment to quality and relationship management. Companies making use of outsourced production facilities, such as Bogozma, require an efficient and powerful method for ensuring the quality of their products during all phases of development and production. Additionally, the product itself must be cataloged through its life cycle in order to ensure that an organization can offer effective support for an extensive period. The following issues are to be addressed by BogozmaBench:

• The need for an integrated application to perform automated tests on a product. Particularly the Bogozma Linkoo Serial->TCP/IP converter,  Sudden loss of input signal(s),  Resistance to voltage spikes/drops on input signals(s),  Validation of functionality of embedded logic by simulating field conditions, Guidance for testing signal integrity during board-level probing, Stress-testing and long-running operation testing.
 
• The need to maintain an accurate record of the performance of the product under test during all phases from production to
delivery.

• The need to perform last-minute firmware upgrades and EEPROM programming of the device before it is shipped to the customer.

The outline below is for reference purposes only. The students are expected to independently analyze the problem to arrive at a solution they will propose during the first phase of their work.

Test Runner -- The central core of BogozmaBench should be a software application with a graphical user-interface that allows a user to select a series of test to run on a device and enter information (automatically and manually) into an associated database.
Database -- An SQL-capable database should be used to catalog the results of production, testing and customer issues. This database must be “server-based” allowing it to be accessed from remote test-runners. (MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server Express, etc…
Unit Tests / Device Programming Tasks -- Sub-programs should be written to perform basic functional tests of a device and its programming. The functionality of the sub-programs must be demonstrated; however the breadth and depth of the library of functions that is available is not a central focus of this project.
Hardware Test Bench -- Some basic hardware development may be necessary to provide common testing functionality such as voltage probing, signal injection (step, pulse,ramp), etc.
Documentation -- The system must be completely documented from both a user and developer perspective
Requirement COEN244 : Programming 2
COEN352 : Data structures & Algorithms
COEN311 : Comp Organization and Software
COEN417 : Microprocessor Systems
COEN346 : Operating Systems (Optional)
SOEN341 : Software Process
Tools Software, hardware, test equipment: Software can be written in any language capable of generating GUIs and interfacing with SQL databases. This includes Java, C++, C#, and Visual Basic. A mix of languages and development tools can and probably should be used. Freely available tools will be used whenever possible. Hardware design will be performed using EAGLE from CadSoft. The student version is freely available on the web at http://cadsoftusa.com Device programming hardware can be borrowed from Bogozma when necessary or purchased if absolutely required.
Number of Students 3-4
Students
Comments: This is an industrial project for Bogozma Electronics. Please contact Sylvain Boily, sboily@bogozma.com, for more information.
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