The simulation and virtual validation framework FERAL (Framework for fast Evaluation on Requirements and Architecture Level) is a solution for virtual architecture development and simulated evaluation of software concepts. FERAL allows the design of virtual prototypes, which replace real prototypes by means of simulation, and evaluate the impact of new architecture concepts in a cost-efficient manner. The solution enables simulation-based validation and the systematic assessment of design decisions at an early stage by coupling simulation models and simulators, existing code, and virtual hardware platforms.

Simulation may be based purely on models; this is called Model-in-the-Loop (MiL) simulation. For that purpose, FERAL supports e.g., UML state machines, activity diagrams, and coupling with other simulators such as Matlab Simulink. FERAL supports this step by providing virtual hardware platforms, i.e., processor and network models to which the software components can be deployed in a virtual Hardware-in-the Loop (vHiL) simulation. All these simulations (MiL and vHiL) serve to detect defects in early development phases, which allows reducing the number of expensive Hardware-in-the-Loop-(HiL) simulations and integration tests. FERAL is very suitable for the creation of complex, holistic test scenarios with inputs coming from different levels. It can, for example, process information from Simulink, Amalthea models, source code, architectural specifications, etc. With this technology, the planned contribution is twofold. One the one hand, IESE aims to use FERAL and support the generation of complex test scenarios for dedicated quality properties such as robustness and performance by using fault injection. On the other hand, by driving this simulation, it is possible to execute generated tests and follow the propagation of data of interest through the system.