Sep 16 – 20, 2024
Knoxville Convention Center (KCC)
US/Eastern timezone
GRCon24 will take place in Knoxville, TN from Sept 16-20

Automating System Tests in GNU Radio Companion

Sep 19, 2024, 1:15 PM
30m
Ballroom AB (Knoxville Convention Center (KCC))

Ballroom AB

Knoxville Convention Center (KCC)

Talk Hardware in the Loop Main Track

Speaker

Chris Stringer (nou Systems, Inc.)

Description

The GNU Radio project and its graphical editor, GNU Radio Companion (GRC), have significantly lowered the barriers to entry into Software Defined Radio (SDR) applications in hobbyist, academic, commercial settings alike. Unit tests help build confidence in the proper functioning and robustness of projects using GNU Radio. However, the unit tests supported by GNU Radio must be developed in Python or C++ and do not share the same approachability as GRC flowgraphs. This talk presents a new testing workflow to augment existing low-level unit testing by enabling the development of complex system-level tests without leaving the GRC environment. Users define test conditions and pass/fail criteria using intuitive Out-Of-Tree (OOT) blocks, and external Python scripts execute the tests. This talk also presents mixed-medium automated testing setups and results with Software-In-the-Loop (SIL) models as well as Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) tests using SDRs and a TAS 4500 Flex channel emulator.

Talk Length 30 Minutes

Primary author

Chris Stringer (nou Systems, Inc.)

Presentation materials