Central terms¶

If an analysis is to be the last step of a test automation run, the tab Signal recordings primarily serves to specify what kind of quantities should be recorded during the test run. In that case it is not necessary to indicate trace files as they are automatically generated in the course of the test run; see Section Creating signal groups and recording groups.

For trace analysis use it is important to understand the following terms:

Signal

A signal is the recording of a quantity across a time span. A signal can also be regarded as a sequence of timestamp-value pairs of a quantity arranged by timestamps. A signal has a name assigned to it by which it is accessed; signal names are contained in traces.

Signal name, mapping name, original name

The signal name is the identifier of a signal. It is derived from the identifier of the quantity recorded by the signal. Signal names occur in ecu.test either in the form mapping names or original names. In trace analysis signals are accessed by mapping names. By means of the ecu.test mapping concept signal names are assigned original names which define exactly at which name the indicated signal is available in the trace file.

Trace or recording

A trace is a collection of signals, thus the recording of one or several quantities. For a given quantity there can be only one signal which records that quantity.

Trace file

Trace files are containers for traces. Depending on their format they can hold one or several traces with one or several signals each. If there are several traces in one file they have been recorded either simultaneously (e.g. by parallel recording of quantities of different devices) or sequentially one after another (e.g. by multiple interrupted recordings of the same quantities).

Recording group

Traces are arranged by ecu.test into recording groups. All traces contained in a common recording group are analyzed by ecu.test in an identical manner. The traces of one recording group can come from different trace files or from one file containing several traces.

Signal group

For all traces of a signal group to be treated by ecu.test in an identical manner, the names of the signals in the group must coincide. To ensure that, every recording group is assigned a signal group with common signal names.