Test in a Box is an open-source engineering test automation platform for repeatable hardware testing and validation, including HiL (Hardware in the Loop).
The idea is to make it easier to build test setups that can be reused and adapted rather than rewritten every time. It is intended to help with the usual mix of lab instruments, sequencing, measurement capture, and logging that comes with validation work.
Why I built Test in a Box
A lot of test work ends up being a combination of code, manual steps, instrument settings, and notes spread around in different places. That is fine for a quick one-off test, but it gets messy once you need to repeat the same procedure, change it slightly, or hand it over to someone else.
This project is my way of trying to bring a bit more structure to that process. The goal is to make tests easier to set up, easier to repeat, and easier to understand when you come back to them later.
What it is for
Test in a Box is aimed at repeatable validation work in a lab or development environment.
It can be used for:
- Automated test sequences.
- Instrument control.
- Measurement capture and logging.
- Repeated hardware validation.
- Test procedures that need a bit more structure.
Development
This is still an active project, and it will keep evolving as I use it on real test work.
The focus is on keeping it practical. I want it to be something that helps reduce the amount of one-off test code and makes the overall process a bit more manageable, without overcomplicating it.
The code and all other development is happening on GitHub.
TiaB Blog posts
- Test in a Box: Pico hardware support and a more useful validation bench
Test in a Box is becoming useful on real hardware Since my previous Test in a Box update, the project has moved beyond the original power-supply and relay demonstrations. I have been connecting more of the laboratory instruments that I actually want to use on an engineering validation bench, and fixing the differences between “there is a driver” and “the driver works with the instrument in front of me”. That distinction is important. A Python class existing in a repository is not the same as a device being identified, read correctly, logged, and usable in a repeatable test. Pico TC-08… Read more: Test in a Box: Pico hardware support and a more useful validation bench - TiaB – Test in a Box!
I have been working on a project I have called Test in a Box (TiaB), it is an open-source test automation platform for repeatable hardware testing and validation. The idea is pretty simple: build something that makes it easier to control test equipment, run repeatable sequences, and capture the results without having to reinvent the whole setup every time. A lot of engineering test work ends up being a mixture of scripts, manual steps, instrument settings, and notes, and this project is my attempt to pull that together into something more structured. So far I have got the TTI PSU… Read more: TiaB – Test in a Box!