VALEO SW Factory Automation: from looping back HIL test cases/sequences into MIL Simulation use cases to LIN/CAN/PWM V&V automated testing

o In charge of the SW Validation Testing activities for all Customer projects (Renault, Volvo, PSA)

o Managed a SW Test team (1 offshore Test engineer who I trained to the entire SW Validation process and tools during 2 weeks onsite, 1 Engineering intern during 3 years with only 20% of time at school, 1 or 2 onsite contractors on adhoc basis).

o Only SW Staff member who a specific budget (not included in customer projects finances) was allocated to (used to improve SW Validation processes, templates, tools, and to develop & release new features for our Automatic SW Test Bench).

o Estimation, Planning (and hands-on Execution when high workload) of the SW Test activities: SW Validation Workload Plan, SW Validation Strategy (including detailed description of the Automatic Validation Test Bench and process), SW Validation Test Plan, SW Validation Test Report, SW Validation Test cases traceability to Component Requirement Specification (ECU) using Reqtify Tool, Testing coverage: reached 100% coverage of the CRS thanks to fully automated testing campaigns when both CAN traminator and LIN emulator have been integrated into the Test Bench by myself: no need to manually create the CAN and LIN fault injection tests anymore (Bus off, Open circuit, short circuit to Vcc or Ground, Data crush/corruption...), all CAN & LIN characteristics and potential failures were tested through the automation of the CAN traminator and LIN Emulator, which led us to exceed the scope of validation to cover a broad spectrum of software and hardware verification for LIN and CAN (see pictures below).

o Responsible for System/SW V&V Factory Automation: in particular, I added a LIN Emulator (emulating LIN Masters/Slaves) fully automated thanks to its monitoring via CAN communication programmed in C coding (Labwindows CVI IDE). Able to inject Bit crush faults on any data of the LIN frames exchanged between our ECU (LIN Master) and our LIN slaves/actuators (real or simulated step motors that control the dynamic front lamps). Similarly, I integrated & automated the CAN Traminator ESL to perform all CAN fault injection tests and protocol characterization. I also implemented the generation, acquisition and processing of PWM signals (from the HMI to the low level C code) using a standard NI DAQ board (DIO/AIO): this has been reused by the System Test Team to integrate PWM measurements into the System Qualification Test Bench monitored by TestStand (NI Test sequencer) which easily reused the PWM acquisition and processing module developed by myself with NI technologies as well (Labwindows CVI + NI DAQ board). In addition to my initial Model Based Design activities with automatic C code generation, we added the connectivity with the MBSE/MBD/C/C++ code generation tool Statemate from Telelogic, now IBM Rhapsody: that is a very powerful feature which complete the SYSTEM/SW/HW Factory Automation Solution by looping back HIL test cases/sequences into MIL Simulation use cases in order to compare all results from SIL V&V, HIL V&V, MIL Simulation, and System Qualification Testing (this for the Behavioural aspect of the system/software, the operating modes and sub-modes, the reaction to discret signals, etc.

I have been rewarded in different ways throughout my experience at VALEO for nearly 3 years: first, by seeing my first 8-week contract extended after the delivery of my first embedded software in mass production, then by being hired by VALEO after 8 months among 5 contractors to replace the Validation and Quality Manager who was leaving the company to return to his home region (see his recommendation below, he was my technical manager during my first months at VALEO). I was then the engineer who received the best salary increase in the electronics department for the next 2 years, I secured 2 cross-departmental budgets dedicated solely to me outside of client budgets, I obtained a full-time VALEO Offshore resource (Egypt) in addition to the apprentice engineer who worked under my technical supervision 80% of the time, and I occasionally had 1 or 2 contractors on site who worked on my activities when there was an overload, and I received 3 additional days off following the CMMI L2 evaluation.

But the best reward I had in this experience at Valeo is having met several brilliant personalities, including one engineer in particular, a young graduate who ranked 2nd in his class at the 2nd engineering school in France, Centrale SupElec, just behind the inevitable Ecole Polytechnique. This young man and I performed 'Two men shows' in the company restaurant and at Team Building events, which remain memorable moments for me.

After my departure, I thanked my colleagues and friends Sébastien (from Centrale SupElec), Erwan, Gino, Samuel, Emmanuel, Baptiste, and a few others in a message for the fantastic human experience I had with them over the past 3 years.

"Well integrated into the software and system teams, Antoine was able to meet the reliability, security, and quality requirements of the automotive industry. On various embedded and real-time software projects, he ensured software and functional validations, while integrating methods (CMMI, software quality assurance,...) and the high level of quality expected by Valeo. Mastering the advanced technical aspects of embedded electronics and vehicle networks, he was able to evolve tools, oversee projects, and manage validations."

Model Based System Engineering and Simulation of the generic avionics for Alcatel Space's science observation satellites (Thermal Control)

MOTOROLA - Innovative & Cost-Performant Multi-Coding Bit Error Rate Measurement System

As RF Test Characterization Engineer/Intern in Motorola Semiconductors, I designed and developed an innovative, reliable and very cost-performant automated Bit Error Rate measurement system for low data rate receivers based on standard digital I/O interfaces (National Instruments DIO card) and post processing clock recovery software. The system has then been validated internally and used for the formal characterization of RF ICs going to mass production. The system has also been presented during the IEEE-IMTC Conference 2005 in Ottawa.

Radio Frequency (RF) integrated receiver circuits are now extremely common in a wide range of applications where wireless data transmission occurs within short distances (less than 100m) using low data rates (in the range of some kbits/s):

- Automotive: remote keyless entry, passive entry, tire pressure and temperature monitoring.

- Home automation: remote metering, remote control of alarms and small appliances.

- Computing: mouse, keyboard.

- Medical monitoring: insulin pumps.

Most of these applications are using miniature cost effective RF modules based on integrated circuit (IC) technology and target a long battery lifetime (6 months to 6 years depending on the application) difficult to reach when complex integrated circuits based on communication standards are used.

For example Bluetooth is oversized in terms of speed and system features (such as channeling, modulation scheme or embedded protocol) for the targeted performances, and demonstrates too high of a current consumption. Simple proprietary communication links are used instead, with elementary OOK (On Off Keying) or FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) modulation schemes, coding formats such as Manchester or Miller and packet profiles including delimiters, checksum and/or redundancy. Performances of these proprietary links can be measured using the device packet format but a faster measurement of error rate is possible if the capability to receive a continuous stream of data is added as test functionality to the RF IC design.

This tool is built around a commercial digital I/O (DIO) board and proprietary application software developed using LabVIEW™ allowing simultaneous BER measurements over up to 7 reception channels. The performances, targeted to cover the characterization of the applications listed, are in the range of BER = 10-5.

Please review this Technical Contribution for more details about this very innovative system.

I found this engineering internship at Motorola without any help (neither from Motorola internally nor at the university), solely thanks to my good results on the 2 projects completed using LabView at IUP Bordeaux (including one project at the Bordeaux Oenology Laboratory) and my final internship at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, where I also used LabView to automate an electromechanical test bench. I already had 3 concrete experiences of university projects with LabView and I sent my CV for this internship position at Motorola, which required experience in this IDE and in radio frequency instrumentation and laboratory work in general, which was also my case due to my Bachelor's Degree in IUT Physical Measurements and my RF option in IUP GEII. Thus, I secured the highest-paid internship of the IUP final year Class (or Master 1), just as I had the best remuneration of the Master 2 Class at Alcatel Space (Thales).