The manual testing of a new Set-top Box (STB) or an interactive Digital Television (iDTV) is a major component in a Manufacturer’s development cost and time-to-market.
Historically, testing effort could not be reduced, as that would result in poor device quality, leading to high support costs, reduced sales volumes and brand damage.
MiriATE Test Automation provides a solution to achieve comprehensive device testing without a long time-to-market or punitive manual testing costs.
The Competitive Landscape
A Manufacturer’s competitive advantage is rarely sustained through patents or supply chain exclusivity. Manufacturers must constantly innovate to stay ahead of competitors based on device design, cost and reliability.
The consequences of poor device quality include:
- damage to brand and reputation and relationships
- high field support overheads
- the cost of re-work and disruption to other projects
- late delivery penalties or even contract cancellation in extreme cases
Delivering good quality is critical to the financial success of any manufacturer.
The Value of Testing
Testing either validates correct functionality or identifies issues. To track down an issue and fix it, the engineering team need documented, repeatable tests that provide accurate, detailed information. MiriATE provides more detailed and accurate information than manual testing.
MiriATE System Overview
MiriATE tests devices as a human user would: selecting content and services via infra-red remote control and analysing the resulting video and audio output. This approach provides the cost savings of automation while allowing existing (manual) test cases to be utilised.
This ‘black box’ device testing reflects the actual viewing experience of a user – this is not provided by ‘white box’ test automation which measures device debug output.
MiriATE Test Automation
MiriATE automated testing is superior to manual testing:
- Reliability (consistent execution, no ‘human errors’)
- Recording (detailed logging for every test step)
- Repetition (run long cyclical tests without ‘boredom’)
- Availability (run tests 24/7)
- Reporting (auto-generation of pass/fail and test logs)
MiriATE Customers include:
- Airtie
- COMSTAR
- Top Up TV
- Amino
- DTG
- Ziggo
- AUSTAR
- Sony
- BT
- Telenor
“The use of test automation has become essential part of ensuring we continue to deliver a high quality set top box solution. We are very impressed by the features offered by the MiriATE product.”
Peter Elmer, Content and Consumer Technology, Delivery Lead at BT
Device Testing needs to change
In the past Media Device testing was easier:
- Media Devices were simpler – the majority of STBs only consisted of a Tuner and a simple electronic programme guide (EPG) application:
- These devices had less scope for hardware, integration and software errors Modern Media Devices, such as STBs and integrated digital TVs are complicated:
- Multiple Tuners (digital broadcast receivers)
- Support for multiple media formats and content encoding
- Recording capability, requiring a PVR application and local storage support
- Support for interactive TV services delivered via Broadband connections
- Support for services from multiple providers
- Support for non-TV Application, such as social media and video conferencing
This expanded functionality has resulted in huge increase in the manual effort and time required to test devices and assure quality.
MiriATE Features
- Facility to import and share existing test scripts
- Creation of tests via scripting or a GUI wizard
- Modify existing scripts or use as templates
- Powerful Video output analysis:
- Image comparison
- Enhanced OCR
- Motion detection
- Colour detection
- Device control via infra-red and power supply
- Test output from SD or HD device interfaces
- Remote system access via web browser
- Configurable test failure alerts (e-mail and text)
- Easy 3rd party tools integration
Business Benefits
- MiriATE improves the quality and reliability of Set-top Boxes or an interactive digital Televisions:
- Reduce test cycle time – providing fast feedback for fast bug fixes and a shorter time-to-market
- Increase test coverage – simply test more
- Enable representative endurance and stress testing
- Increase testing efficiency – free the test team to focus on analysing results and fault investigation
- MiriATE provides easy traceability and audit of the testing process
- MiriATE’s modular architecture supports cost effective systems to test from 4 devices upwards
Find out more by downloading the MiriATE for Device Manufacturers data sheet here.