Latest qualifiable toolset brings enhanced model-level testing

QGen’s qualifiable and customisable code generator processes a safe subset of Simulink and Stateflow models and generates source code in the safety-oriented programming languages SPARK (a formally analysable Ada subset) and MISRA C. QGen 17.1 incorporates an updated user interface, support for additional Simulink blocks, an efficient and user-friendly set of compatibility checkers, and robust and powerful model-level debugging support for back-to-back testing between simulation and target execution. QGen 17.1 is compatible with MATLAB versions 2009b through 2016b.

The debugging facilities in QGen 17.1 are suitable in the industry, bringing model-level block and signal visibility to the embedded world. Using the GNAT Programming Studio (GPS) IDE, developers can debug not only ‘pure’ Simulink and Stateflow models but also applications that combine manually prepared and auto-generated code.

If a breakpoint is set on an individual block, the debugger will automatically set a breakpoint at the corresponding statement in the generated code. The debugger displays a full, graphical view of the Simulink model, showing the values of signal variables as they are updated during execution. Signal values can be overridden by hand for testing purposes, to force the model into states that might be tedious to reach otherwise.

The generated SPARK/Ada or MISRA C code can always be displayed side-by-side with the model, and the developer can easily jump back and forth between a point in the model and the corresponding position in the source code. The debugger can execute the programme one step at a time, either at source-code level or block level, and can cross between auto-generated code and user-written code.

“Our QGen product is already much more than just a qualifiable code generator for Simulink and Stateflow models," said Tucker Taft, Product Architect for QGen at AdaCore. "QGen now integrates subset compatibility checkers, optimised, qualifiable code generation, static model verification, Processor-In-the-Loop (PIL) testing on a real target or through emulation on the host, and our unique model-level debugging capability.”

QGen has been designed to be qualified at the highest level for usage on safety-critical systems, in particular Tool Qualification Level TQL-1 for DO-178C (corresponding to a development tool under DO-178B), and qualification material is available.