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HOBL

HOBL

Introduction

  • "HOBL" (Hours Of Battery Life) is a test framework and set of test scenarios for the purpose of measuring power, perfromance, and thermal characteristics of Windows and (to a lesser extent) macOS devices.
  • The intent of HOBL is to support fully-automated and scaled out user-representative test execution and analysis, to enable computer system and component manufacturers to validate and tune products during development.
  • Power is expected to be primarily measured with external DAQ equipement, but internal power monitor chips and battery rundown measurements are also supported.
  • The HOBL test framework runs on a "Host" Windows 10/11 PC. Test scenarios execute on the Host and send commands to the DUT (Device Under Test) over a local network to replicate user interactions.
  • To ensure standardized and representative measurements, testers must not kill or disable processes or services. "Prep scenarios" will be automatically executed to put the system in a controlled state suitable for testing.
  • Make sure your DUT is a computer that is ONLY logged in with a dedicated test account. Files, emails, etc, may be deleted. A work or personal computer may be used as a "Host", but not a "DUT".
  • For questions or issues, send mail to HOBLsupport@microsoft.com. Attach the hobl.log file and relevant screen shots for any problematic test run.

Quick Start for Local Web Browsing Battery Life Testing

  • Running locally (meaning HOBL is executing on the device directly with no host) can be useful for short term, one-off testing. For long-term repeated testing, it's highly recommended to set up a dedicated HOBL Host computer on a private network.
  • For official results, adjust the screen brightness to 150 nits, set Wi-Fi AP to 50 Mbps per client on 5 Ghz, and out-of-box audio volume. Detailed instructions here. For quick results, a free app for iPhone and Android called, "Screen Brightness Nits Meter" seems to do reasonably well for measuring screen brightness (be sure to set a white background for measurement).
  • Download the HOBL Installer to the test device (DUT) and execute it. Select the "Local setup" option.
  • After installation, the HOBL UI will open with a Default profile that is set up for local rundown testing.
  • With the profile selected, select Web Rundown from the Quick Launch menu, which can be found either by right-clicking on the profile, or opening the arrow on the Launch Job button on the top-right of the window.
  • The rundown_web test plan will execute and does the following:
  • The prep scenario will run some scenarios to prepare the system for web testing. This includes freshly installing the latest Edge. Details on system prep can be found here.
  • charge_on will turn the charger on if charger automation is set up, or prompt you if not.
  • wait_for_dut_comm will wait for communication with DUT. In case the device is unresponsive in a hosted setup we don't want to continue with the plan.
  • process_idle_taks will let any currently scheduled Windows background tasks complete. This puts the device in a consistent state at the beginnning of any study and is particularly crucial for a freshly installed image which triggres a lot of unrepresentative background tasks, such as Defender and Search indexing. Normal, represntative Defender and Search activity will still occur during the study. A 2-hour (7200s) timeout is specified, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes normally.
  • The recharge scenario will turn on the charger, wait until battery reaches 100%, wait an additionaly 30 minutes (1800s), then turn off the charger to start the rundown. The 30 min delay can be adjusted with the post_charge_delay parameter as desired.
  • The web scenario does the actual web browsing, opening 12 different web sites across 7 tabs and interacting with them. It will loop continually until the device goes into hibernate. The plan also specifies a screen shot tool that will take screen shots every hour. This can be helpful to review and make sure pages loaded properly.
  • charge_on will again turn on the charger after the rundown, or prompt you to.
  • study_report will roll up the results of multiple runs into a single Excel report generated from a template. A basic template is used by default. The report will be saved to the specified result directory of the study.
  • If you need to stop the rundown:
  • If the HOBL UI is up, click the "Stop Plan" button on the top.
  • If the "web" scenario is running, close the browser and wait a few minutes. It will detect that it can't navigate the browser, FAIL the test accordingly, and bring up the HOBL UI.
  • At the end of the rundown the device will go into hibernate. Manually reconnect the charger and after about 2 minutes press the power button to bring the device back online. The device needs to remain in hibernate for at least 2 minutes for it to be detected properly.
  • Let the test execution continue. After a couple minutes the browser should close and the HOB UI will open showing the executing test plan.
  • When the plan is completed, you can view detailed result files of the web scenario you by clicking on the blue RunDir link on that line. Or, to view a summmary of all runs click the Result Summary button at the top. Look for the "Metric > Full Run Duration" for the measured battery life.

Quick Start for experienced HOBL users (novice users please read full Setup instructions)

  • Make sure Git for Windows is installed on HOBL Host.
  • Clone repo (preferrably to c:\hobl, to avoid appsettings.json tweaks).
  • Run host_setup.exe, located in the root folder. Select both options.
  • Copy downloads\setup\dut_setup_\<ver>.exe to a flash drive and run it on the DUT. This will install SimpleRemote and configure the DUT for communication with the HOBL Host. HOBL can't communicate without this, and you will see errors about failed remote directory creation and communication timeouts.
  • Verify network connectivity by pinging the DUT from the Host and vice versa. Then run the comm_check scenario and make sure all checks pass.
  • To get HOBL updates, do a "git pull".
  • To get HOBL UI updates, run host_setup.exe and only select the "User Interface" option.

Further reading:

Security

HOBL uses SimpleRemote for communicating with devices, which allows users to run programs and access files on the computer where it is run, with no authentication whatsoever. It was desiged to be run on test machines on closed, lab networks.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for details.

Utilities Folder

This folder contains executable utilities required by this project. These utilities fall into three categories:

  1. Microsoft Proprietary Utilities
  2. Located in: /utilities/proprietary/
  3. License: Microsoft Proprietary License
  4. Source code: Not open source

  5. Modification, reverse engineering, or redistribution outside this project is prohibited.

  6. Open-Source Utilities (Redistributable)

  7. Located in: /utilities/open_source/

  8. These utilities are governed by their associated open-source licenses, included in each subfolder's LICENSE file.

  9. Third-Party Open-Source Utilities

  10. Located in: /utilities/third_party/
  11. These utilities are governed by their associated open-source licenses, included in each subfolder's LICENSE file.

Each utility’s license type, ownership, and usage permissions are stated explicitly in its respective subfolder. See NOTICE.md at the repository root for consolidated third-party licensing information when applicable.

Third‑Party Software Notices

This project includes or depends upon third‑party software components licensed under open source licenses.
The following notices are provided for attribution and license compliance purposes. These components are found in the utilities/third_party folder.

MIT Licensed Components

The following components are licensed under the MIT License:

A copy of the MIT License is provided in the applicable component directory.

Apache License 2.0 Components

The following components are licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0:

These components are used in compliance with the Apache License, Version 2.0.
A copy of the license is available at:
https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

If required by a specific component, any applicable NOTICE files are included in the repository.

GPL Version 2.0 Components

The following components are licensed under the GPL License, Version 2.0:

  • Remote
    Copyright © Microsoft
    License: GPL 2.0
    Source: Supplied

If required by a specific component, any applicable NOTICE files are included in the repository.

Attribution and Trademarks

Third‑party project names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Use of these names does not imply endorsement.

Source Availability

This repository does not modify the licensing terms of any included third‑party software.
All third‑party components remain subject to their original license terms.