A combined fault diagnosis and test case selection assistant for automotive end-of-line test systems

With growing complexity of premium cars, the end-of-line test systems also increase in complexity. The test systems have to provide more and more functionality like flashing of electronic control units (ECUs) and sensor calibration. Current end-of-line test systems evolved to complex networked IT-systems, which consist of various components and subsystems from different suppliers. Automotive production maintenance engineers are challenged to keep the availability of the test system on a high level to not cause production delays. In a case study with automotive test experts, we considered fault diagnosis and test case selection as two major tasks to maintain a high system availability. The experts combine their knowledge and experience about fault-prone system parts and former faults to optimize fault diagnosis and test case selection for regression testing. To support the experts to manage the growing complexity, we propose a combined fault diagnosis and test case selection assistance system. The combination of both techniques enables synergy effects by supporting the fault diagnosis with test case selection and by considering fault data in regression testing. This paper presents the concept of that combined assistant system and describes a prototypical realization used in an exemplary scenario.