Test-driven development of embedded control systems: application in an automotive collision prevention system

With test-driven development (TDD) new code is not written until an automated test has failed, and duplications of functions, tests, or simply code fragments are always removed. TDD can lead to a better design and a higher quality of the developed system, but to date it has mainly been applied to the development of traditional software systems such as payroll applications. This thesis describes the novel application of TDD to the development of embedded control systems using an automotive safety system for preventing collisions as an example. The basic prerequisite for test-driven development is the availability of an automated testing framework as tests are executed very often. Such testing frameworks have been developed for nearly all programming languages, but not for the graphical, signal driven language Simulink. Simulink is commonly used in the automotive industry and can be considered as state-of-the-art for the design and development of embedded control systems in the automotive, aerospace and other industries. The thesis therefore introduces a novel automated testing framework for Simulink. This framework forms the basis for the test-driven development process by integrating the analysis, design and testing of embedded control systems into this process. The thesis then shows the application of TDD to a collision prevention system. The system architecture is derived from the requirements of the system and four software components are identified, which represent problems of particular areas for the realisation of control systems, i.e. logical combinations, experimental problems, mathematical algorithms, and control theory. For each of these problems, a concept to systematically derive test cases from the requirements is presented. Moreover two conventional approaches to design the controller are introduced and compared in terms of their stability and performance. The effectiveness of the collision prevention system is assessed in trials on a driving simulator. These trials show that the system leads to a significant reduction of the accident rate for rear-end collisions. In addition, experiments with prototype vehicles on test tracks and field tests are presented to verify the system’s functional requirements within a system testing approach. Finally, the new test-driven development process for embedded control systems is evaluated in comparison to traditional development processes

Sea Change in Software Development: Economic and Productivity Analysis of the AI-Powered Developer Lifecycle

This study examines the impact of GitHub Copilot on a large sample of Copilot users (n=934,533). The analysis shows that users on average accept nearly 30% of the suggested code, leading to increased productivity. Furthermore, our research demonstrates that the acceptance rate rises over time and is particularly high among less experienced developers, providing them with substantial benefits. Additionally, our estimations indicate that the adoption of generative AI productivity tools could potentially contribute to a $1.5 trillion increase in global GDP by 2030. Moreover, our investigation sheds light on the diverse contributors in the generative AI landscape, including major technology companies, startups, academia, and individual developers. The findings suggest that the driving force behind generative AI software innovation lies within the open-source ecosystem, particularly in the United States. Remarkably, a majority of repositories on GitHub are led by individual developers. As more developers embrace these tools and acquire proficiency in the art of prompting with generative AI, it becomes evident that this novel approach to software development has forged a unique inextricable link between humans and artificial intelligence. This symbiotic relationship has the potential to shape the construction of the world's software for future generations

CTA Contributions to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015)

List of contributions from the CTA Consortium presented at the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands.Comment: Index of CTA conference proceedings at the ICRC2015, The Hague (The Netherlands). v1: placeholder with no arXiv links yet, to be replaced once individual contributions have been all submitted; v2: final with arXiv links to all CTA contributions and full author lis