Blog Category

A blockchain is distributed ledger with records securely linked using cryptographic hashes. Blockchains offer multiple applications in test automation for enhancing the testing process itself, providing secure, transparent, and automated mechanisms for optimizing the testing life cycle, and of course for testing blockchain applications. Blockchain-based test automation is particularly relevant in industries with high compliance needs (e.g., medical devices, supply chain) and where transparency, traceability, and trust are critical.

6G-SANDBOX is a European research project to support an experimentation ecosystem for next-generation technology and research needed for the emerging 3PPP 6G communications standard. The 6G-SANDBOX targets technologies and research that span the entire 6G service provisioning chain, with reference to user/data, control and management planes. This blog provides a high-level view of the SANDBOX and highlights the role of OpenTAP and Keysight technologies in it.

Test plans play a central role in test automation. Plugins extend the functionality of a test automation platform and enhance the functionality of test plans. But should test plans and plugins be treated as intellectual property (IP) on a par with other types of software, patented tech and methods, and trade secrets?

Concern for product quality, system security and standards compliance serve to highlight the importance of rigorous testing.  Test automation with OpenTAP is key to meeting QA/QC goals, especially in today’s environment of short lifecycles for increasingly complex products and services.

The OpenTAP team caught up with APT tool set R&D manager Haran S. earlier this year for a chat about the advantages of using OpenTAP in off-the-shelf products. This interview focuses on the role of OpenTAP (and its commercial version, PathWave Test Automation) in creating and delivering the 5G Advanced Performance Test Toolset.

The CRA explicitly addresses open source software (OSS) but with important nuances and exceptions: open source software is generally exempt from CRA requirements if it is developed or supplied outside the context of a commercial activity; shared freely for public use, without direct financial gain. This exemption aims to protect non-commercial contributors, such as community-driven and academic OSS projects, from regulatory burden.  However, given the actual mix of commercial and non-commercial OSS development, this language is highly contentious.

Increasingly systems architects are including richer test capabilities in their company's shipping products. OEMs are deploying OpenTAP in development and manufacturing. Device manufacturers are also embedding the test platform, either downloaded directly from the OpenTAP project or from the supported commercial version, the Keysight PathWave Test Automation Deployment System. This blog highlights the many products that are today deploying OpenTAP to provide embedded test automation.

The EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) was formally approved by the European Parliament on March 29, 2024, following a political agreement reached in December 2023. The regulation establishes cybersecurity requirements for digital products to ensure their resilience against cyber threats and to provide for secure usage across the  European Union (EU). The aim of the Act is to enhance the security of digital products and connected devices across the EU. Its primary goal is ensuring that hardware, software, and IT services sold in the EU meet robust security standards throughout their lifecycles.

Like any software project or product, the OpenTAP test automation platform benefits from rigorous test and quality assurance (QA) as part of its build and release process. Recently, the OpenTAP.io team spent time with Keysight QA and Release Manager Sebastian Pop-Vlaic, chatting about how the OpenTAP project team and the Keysight organization go about testing OpenTAP.

A “change angel” is an individual who acts as a catalyst for change within an organization. Change angels help facilitate and manage the process of change by influencing and inspiring others, through advocacy, facilitation, problem solving, leadership and influencing. Learn how you can become a change angels with OpenTAP and see the benefits it brings to your company and your career.

SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) is a a standard with particular relevance for OpenTAP and the ecosystem of instruments that it supports. SCPI defines an interface for controlling test and measurement devices. Introduced in 1990 as a layer on top of IEEE 488.2-1987,  it provides commands for oscilloscopes, multimeters, spectrum analyzers, and power supplies.

Modern products and services are highly dependent upon the development and application of standards. Without the presence of and adherence to standards, software and systems could not interoperate – every piece of technology, down to basic nuts and bolts and nails used in construction, would be artisanal, raising costs and limiting utility.