Distributed System Integration Driven by Tests

Abstract

In complex distributed systems, the integration phase implies a lot of actions due to it is necessary to know how a component interacts with others. Usually, in the system design phase, modules are defined in a hierarchy in order to be easily integrated based on direct dependencies between the modules. That implies a sequential process of integration. In order to accelerate the integration process, agile-inspired integration method has been designed. The method is based in the moment that a unitary test of a component is passed, the dependencies can be started to be tested. The method has been applied in an intelligent system implemented in an indoor drone. First results show that the integration process based on this method is really accelerated, but the coordination between partners and the communication channels have a lot of influence to achieve the process with some minimum quality.