Product manufacturers play a constant game of catch-up to support the latest standards, protocols, requirements, and features, even before they have been completely established by standards bodies. To help ensure seamless interoperability with the new and existing hosts and devices on the market for any given protocol, designers participate in plugfest interoperability events, where their latest products are tested against the gold standards as well as other new products. It’s at these events where designers may learn that despite the weeks of preparation, it’s impossible to anticipate all the possible configurations that they will face.
Unexpected behavior can occur due to interaction between devices implementing new features, especially in older equipment or devices implementing older features. Even when a design team is focused on one version of the specification, a non-certified product interacting with a certified product can reveal unexpected issues. Interoperability testing is the most common way to run a product through a myriad of real-life connection scenarios before a product is widely deployed.
Interoperability testing in these conditions can lead to unexpected system behaviors, ranging from a simple lack of robustness to completely different interpretations of an IP specification. Engineers then endure stressful debugging sessions to try to resolve the issues in a 30-minute timeslot to pass the test. On-the-spot debug requires the ability to quickly make changes to the hardware and software. Using a complete, well thought-out prototyping platform with software/hardware co-design in mind can make a difference in high-pressure situations like interoperability events.