SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR TESTING NTCIP DEVICES AT THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TRAFFIC E

1
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR TESTING NTCIP
DEVICESATTHE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATIONTRAFFIC ENGINEERING RESEARCH LAB
by Hung Huy Khong, Derek Vollmer, Khue Ngo-Quoc,
Jeffrey Morgan, Liang Hsia, and Leonard J. Tung
2
Summary

• Past Development
• Limitations of old software
• Alternative NTCIP Test Software (ANTS)
• Benefits of ANTS
• Reports generated with ANTS
• Future goals

3
Past Development

• From 1999-2002, DMS NTCIP requirements and Test
  procedures were developed
• The Test procedures were scripted using the NTCIP
  Exercisers scripting capabilities for quicker
  and easier testing of devices.
• The scripts proved very beneficial and are used
  today to test devices.
• In 2004, Alternative NTCIP Test Software (ANTS)
  was conceived.

4
NTCIP Exerciser Limitations

• Difficult for someone new to determine if an
  error was caused by the device or by the
  Exerciser.
• Reports generated by the scripts could be
  difficult to read, because some values when
  printed are not readable.
• The scripting language has no debugging
  environment and has very limited capabilities.
• It can only communicate through a serial port.
• It can not implement the Simple Transportation
  Network Protocol (STMP).

5
Exerciser Limitations Contd

• The Exerciser crashes regularly.
• The MIB compiler is old and does not recognize
  certain MIB syntax as correct. An example is a
  range of 0..35999 65535 found in the CCTV MIB.

6
CCTV and ASC MIB Development

• In 2007, work began on development of the Closed
  Circuit Television (CCTV) and Actuated Signal
  Controller (ASC) MIB requirements and test
  procedures.
• Test procedures were developed for the CCTV and
  scripted using the Exerciser.
• During test procedure development for the ASC, it
  became apparent the Exerciser was inadequate.

7
Commercial Software

• FDOT investigated the possibility of using
  commercial software to develop test scripts.
• The commercial software was not user friendly and
  scripting was difficult.
• FDOT wanted a test tool that could be freely
  distributed to manufacturers, so manufacturers
  can test the device prior to submitting it for
  approval.

8
Alternative NTCIP Test Software (ANTS)

• In 2007, FSU researchers began working on test
  software that was adequate enough to test the
  ASC.
• Open source modules were found for the Python
  scripting language to construct SNMP messages and
  communicate through a serial port.
• Using these modules, the researches wrote code to
  glue everything together to produce a
  rudimentary way to communicate with a device
  using serial communications and eventually
  UDP/IP.

9
Benefits of ANTS

• The Python scripting language can be used to
  script test procedures.
• The language contains basic debugging tools that
  allow one to step through code to find bugs.
• Much more automation can be done to speed up
  testing.
• The program runs much faster than the Exerciser.
• Code can be written to do whatever the tester
  needs.

10
Report Generation With ANTS

• An important aspect of testing is documentation
  and readability of the documentation
• The scripts produce three reports for each test
  with different levels of detail. One is a
  summary, one shows all of the steps with messages
  sent, and one shows only the byte streams.
• The test procedures are written in NTCIP 8007
  format, and two of the reports are formatted the
  same way, showing what occurred for each step.

11
User Interaction

• Using Python, the scripter can create GUIs that
  popup to ask the tester to verify a certain
  behavior, present the tester with relevant
  information, or inform the tester there is a
  pause in the script.
• The user comments are placed in the reports on
  the appropriate steps.
• GUIs containing important test data can be
  captured and appended to the report.

12
What is Being Scripted in ANTS

• Currently test procedures under development for
  the ASC are being scripted.
• The old DMS test procedures are being modified
  and scripted to decrease testing time and allow
  more user inputs that are not predefined.

13
Conclusion

• Due to restrictions of and aggravation from older
  software, a new tool to test devices for NTCIP
  compliance is being developed.
• ANTS decreases testing time and allows users with
  less knowledge of NTCIP to perform testing.
• Knowledge of NTCIP is still necessary to identify
  specific problems found.
• Free distribution of ANTS to manufacturers/vendors
  and districts to test devices to FDOTs minimum
  requirements. Vendors should be able to get it
  right prior to installing or submitting devices.
  

14
Questions And Answers

• ?