diff --git a/app/meson.build b/app/meson.build
index 0d8b618e7f..c14dc80892 100644
--- a/app/meson.build
+++ b/app/meson.build
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ foreach app:apps
         link_libs = dpdk_static_libraries + dpdk_drivers
     endif
 
-    executable('dpdk-' + name,
+    exec = executable('dpdk-' + name,
             sources,
             c_args: cflags,
             link_args: ldflags,
@@ -110,4 +110,9 @@ foreach app:apps
             include_directories: includes,
             install_rpath: join_paths(get_option('prefix'), driver_install_path),
             install: true)
+    if name == 'test'
+        dpdk_test = exec
+        autotest_sources = sources
+        subdir('test/suites')  # define the pre-canned test suites
+    endif
 endforeach
diff --git a/app/test/suites/meson.build b/app/test/suites/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..df0c66ff0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/test/suites/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright(c) 2023 Intel Corporation
+
+# some perf tests (eg: memcpy perf autotest)take very long
+# to complete, so timeout to 10 minutes
+timeout_seconds = 600
+timeout_seconds_fast = 10
+
+test_no_huge_args = ['--no-huge', '-m', '2048']
+has_hugepage = run_command(has_hugepages_cmd, check: true).stdout().strip() != '0'
+message('hugepage availability: @0@'.format(has_hugepage))
+
+# process source files to determine the different unit test suites
+# - fast_tests
+# - perf_tests
+# - driver_tests
+test_suites = run_command(get_test_suites_cmd, autotest_sources,
+         check: true).stdout().strip().split()
+foreach suite:test_suites
+    # simple cases - tests without parameters or special handling
+    suite = suite.split('=')
+    suite_name = suite[0]
+    suite_tests = suite[1].split(',')
+    if suite_name != 'fast-tests'
+        # simple cases - tests without parameters or special handling
+        foreach t: suite_tests
+            test(t, dpdk_test,
+                    args: ['--', t],
+                    timeout: timeout_seconds,
+                    is_parallel: false,
+                    suite: suite_name)
+        endforeach
+    else
+    # special fast-test handling here
+        foreach t: suite_tests
+            params = t.split(':')
+            test_name = params[0]
+            nohuge = params[1] == 'true'
+            asan = params[2] == 'true'
+
+            test_args = []
+            if nohuge
+                test_args += test_no_huge_args
+            elif not has_hugepage
+                continue  #skip this tests
+            endif
+            if not asan and (get_option('b_sanitize') == 'address'
+                    or get_option('b_sanitize') == 'address,undefined')
+                continue  # skip this test
+            endif
+
+            if (get_option('default_library') == 'shared'
+                    and test_name == 'event_eth_tx_adapter_autotest')
+                test_args += ['-d', dpdk_drivers_build_dir]
+            endif
+            if is_linux
+                test_args += ['--file-prefix=@0@'.format(arg[0])]
+            endif
+
+            test(test_name, dpdk_test,
+                args : test_args + ['--', test_name],
+                timeout : timeout_seconds_fast,
+                is_parallel : false,
+                suite : 'fast-tests')
+            if not is_windows and test_name == 'trace_autotest'
+                test_args += ['--trace=.*']
+                test_args += ['--trace-dir=@0@'.format(meson.current_build_dir())]
+                test(test_name + '_with_traces', dpdk_test,
+                    args : test_args + ['--', test_name],
+                    timeout : timeout_seconds_fast,
+                    is_parallel : false,
+                    suite : 'fast-tests')
+            endif
+        endforeach
+    endif
+endforeach
diff --git a/buildtools/get-test-suites.py b/buildtools/get-test-suites.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95a9cad4c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildtools/get-test-suites.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright(c) 2023 Intel Corporation
+
+import sys
+import re
+
+input_list = sys.argv[1:]
+test_def_regex = re.compile("REGISTER_([A-Z]+)_TEST\s*\(\s*([a-z0-9_]+)")
+test_suites = {}
+
+def get_fast_test_params(test_name, ln):
+    "Extract the extra fast-test parameters from the line"
+    #print(f"ln: {ln.rstrip()}, test_name: {test_name}, split: {ln.split(test_name, 1)}")
+    (_, rest_of_line) = ln.split(test_name, 1)
+    (_, nohuge, asan, _func) = rest_of_line.split(',', 3)
+    return f":{nohuge.strip().lower()}:{asan.strip().lower()}"
+
+for fname in input_list:
+    with open(fname) as f:
+        contents = [ln for ln in f.readlines() if test_def_regex.match(ln.strip())]
+    for ln in contents:
+        (test_suite, test_name) = test_def_regex.match(ln).group(1, 2)
+        suite_name = f"{test_suite.lower()}-tests"
+        if suite_name in test_suites:
+            test_suites[suite_name].append(test_name)
+        else:
+            test_suites[suite_name] = [test_name]
+        if suite_name == "fast-tests":
+            test_suites["fast-tests"][-1] += get_fast_test_params(test_name, ln)
+
+for suite in test_suites.keys():
+    print(f"{suite}={','.join(test_suites[suite])}")
diff --git a/app/test/has_hugepage.py b/buildtools/has-hugepages.py
similarity index 100%
rename from app/test/has_hugepage.py
rename to buildtools/has-hugepages.py
diff --git a/buildtools/meson.build b/buildtools/meson.build
index e1c600e40f..ac5e4dcf08 100644
--- a/buildtools/meson.build
+++ b/buildtools/meson.build
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ map_to_win_cmd = py3 + files('map_to_win.py')
 sphinx_wrapper = py3 + files('call-sphinx-build.py')
 get_cpu_count_cmd = py3 + files('get-cpu-count.py')
 get_numa_count_cmd = py3 + files('get-numa-count.py')
+get_test_suites_cmd = py3 + files('get-test-suites.py')
+has_hugepages_cmd = py3 + files('has-hugepages.py')
 binutils_avx512_check = (py3 + files('binutils-avx512-check.py') +
                         [objdump] + cc.cmd_array())
 
