Nought
Born from our own embedded projects, Nought is a Hardware-in-the-Loop test bench that plugs real hardware into the CI: every commit can be built, flashed and tested on the target, automatically, from a clean machine. Used internally for our hardware CI, turned into a product — see nought.ch.
On every embedded project we hit the same wall: reproducible builds, automated tests, CI/CD — everything was automatic, except the run on real hardware. The test bench remained a desk-corner rig known to a single person. We built Nought for our own projects; since every embedded team faces the same problem, it became a product.
The principle, in four steps:
- The CI leases a test machine through a simple API
- The machine boots disklessly from the network — every reboot brings it back to a clean, known state — then cold-restarts the embedded system
- Tests run over SSH; signals and consoles are captured, and an optional analysis head decodes UART, I²C, SPI and checks GPIO timings
- The verdict lands in the pipeline, the target is wiped, the machine resets
No Kubernetes, no proprietary boards: standard hardware (Raspberry Pi, off-the-shelf probes). Every run is traceable — a direct asset for CRA or IEC 62304 compliance.
Nought is in development, already used internally for the hardware CI of our own projects, and open for early access. Discover it at nought.ch, and on our product page.