Profiling OTX
- Jörg Supke
- Oct 27
- 2 min read
In modern diagnostic and test systems, efficiency and transparency in execution play a central role. Especially with complex OTX scripts, it is crucial to understand where time, CPU power, and memory are being consumed. Our new OTX Profiler provides precisely these insights – integrated directly into our Open Test Framework development environment.
Contents
What does the OTX profiler do?
The profiler analyzes the runtime behavior of OTX sequences in detail and with precision. During execution on the target system, our OTX runtime generates profiler files as needed, which can later be read into the OTF and evaluated with the appropriate OTX code. The key advantage: Profile acquisition has only a minimal impact on the actual execution on the target system – with less than 10% additional load. This allows real-world processes to be analyzed without distorting the measurement results – a crucial benefit in practical testing.
The profiler records the following during OTX execution:
How often each activity was performed
The execution time of each activity in microseconds
The average CPU load of the application and the system during the execution of the activity.
The average memory usage of the application and system during the execution of the activity.
This data is precisely correlated over time, enabling a complete performance analysis of OTX processes. This allows bottlenecks and inefficiencies to be quickly identified.
Targeted analysis and hotspot detection
The OTF evaluation offers flexible filtering and visualization options. The measurement results can be filtered according to various criteria, including:
individual OTX activities or
Activity types (e.g., diagnostic communication, logging, all)
This analysis allows for the targeted identification of hotspots – those areas where an above-average amount of time or computing power is required. This provides developers with concrete indications of where optimization potential lies.
Seamlessly integrated
The OTX Profiler is fully integrated into the Open Test Framework . This allows it to seamlessly integrate into existing development and analysis processes. Profiling results can be visualized, compared, and documented directly within the OTF – an ideal basis for:
Performance tuning of OTX scripts
Verification and validation during the development phase
Verifiable runtime documentation as part of quality assurance or certification
Conclusion
The OTX Profiler in the Open Test Framework provides a powerful tool for making the performance of OTX processes transparent and measurable according to ISO 13209 – efficiently, precisely, and without significantly impacting execution. It gives developers and test engineers the foundation to optimize OTX scripts, conserve resources, and ensure the highest quality in test automation.
