Standards-Oriented Gap Analysis of Traceability in Electronic System Design

Traceability, the ability to follow and interpret system behavior from design through operation, is well-established in software engineering through formal standards and structured workflows. In contrast, electronic system design often lacks comparable mechanisms, particularly at the level of physical components, signal pathways, and runtime system behavior.

This paper presents a standards-oriented gap analysis focusing on traceability practices across three key layers of electronic system design: the circuit/component level, the embedded firmware level, and the system-level behavior. Drawing from published standards and documentation guidelines in both software and electronics disciplines, the study identifies critical areas where electronics workflows provide limited support for runtime observability and post-deployment diagnosis.

The analysis highlights that, while validation and testing protocols exist for electronic hardware, comprehensive traceability frameworks—spanning from schematic design to deployed system behavior—are not sufficiently standardized. This gap becomes particularly relevant in safety-critical and sensor-integrated applications.

As the research methodology, relevant standards from software engineering and electrical and electronics engineering will be selected, specifically those addressing traceability practices. Traceability-related content will be extracted and analyzed to provide a structured, comparative discussion across the two domains.

The paper concludes by outlining future research directions for integrating traceability-aware design principles into electronic system development, using cross-disciplinary insights inspired by traceability in software engineering.