diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index f7e5ee2..2dcee3a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@ jobs:
     build-and-run-tests:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         env:
-            OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_INSTALL: "${{ github.workspace }}/otel_cpp_install"
             OPENTELEMETRY_MATLAB_INSTALL: "${{ github.workspace }}/otel_matlab_install"
-            OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_INSTALL: "${{ github.workspace }}/otelcol"
             SYSTEM_LIBSTDCPP_PATH: "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6"
         steps:
             - name: Download OpenTelemetry-Matlab source
@@ -17,11 +15,6 @@ jobs:
                 path: opentelemetry-matlab
             - name: Install MATLAB
               uses: matlab-actions/setup-matlab@v1
-            - name: Download OpenTelemetry Collector binary
-              run: |
-                  mkdir otelcol && cd otelcol
-                  wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.75.0/otelcol_0.75.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
-                  tar -xzf otelcol_0.75.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
             - name: Build OpenTelemetry-Matlab
               run: |
                   cd opentelemetry-matlab
diff --git a/test/commonSetupOnce.m b/test/commonSetupOnce.m
index f70a2a5..06aed5f 100644
--- a/test/commonSetupOnce.m
+++ b/test/commonSetupOnce.m
@@ -5,21 +5,23 @@ function commonSetupOnce(testCase)
 
 % file definitions
 otelcolroot = getenv("OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_INSTALL");
-assert(~isempty(otelcolroot), "OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_INSTALL environment must be defined.")
 testCase.OtelConfigFile = fullfile(fileparts(mfilename("fullpath")), ...
     "otelcol_config.yml");
 otelroot = getenv("OPENTELEMETRY_MATLAB_INSTALL");
-assert(~isempty(otelroot), "OPENTELEMETRY_MATLAB_INSTALL environment must be defined.")
-testCase.OtelRoot = otelroot;
 testCase.JsonFile = "myoutput.json";
 testCase.PidFile = "testoutput.txt";
 
 % process definitions
-testCase.OtelcolName = "otelcol";
 if ispc
    testCase.ListPid = @(name)"tasklist /fi ""IMAGENAME eq " + name + ".exe""";
    testCase.ReadPidList = @(file)readtable(file, "VariableNamingRule", "preserve", "NumHeaderLines", 3, "MultipleDelimsAsOne", true, "Delimiter", " ");
-   testCase.ExtractPid = @(table)table.Var2;
+   testCase.ExtractPid = @(table)table.Var2;   
+   
+   % variables to support downloading OpenTelemetry Collector
+   otelcol_arch_name = "windows_amd64";
+   otelcol_exe_ext = ".exe";
+
+   % windows_kill
    windows_killroot = getenv("WINDOWS_KILL_INSTALL");
    windows_killname = "windows-kill";
    if isempty(windows_killroot)
@@ -41,6 +43,10 @@ function commonSetupOnce(testCase)
    testCase.ExtractPid = @(table)table.PID;
    testCase.Sigint = @(id)"kill " + id;  % kill sends a SIGTERM instead of SIGINT but turns out this is sufficient to terminate OTEL collector on Linux
    testCase.Sigterm = @(id)"kill " + id;
+
+   % variables to support downloading OpenTelemetry Collector
+   otelcol_arch_name = "linux_amd64";
+   otelcol_exe_ext = "";
 elseif ismac
    testCase.ListPid = @(name)"pgrep -x " + name;
    testCase.ReadPidList = @readmatrix;
@@ -48,15 +54,47 @@ function commonSetupOnce(testCase)
    testCase.Sigint = @(id)"kill -s INT " + id;  
    testCase.Sigterm = @(id)"kill -s TERM " + id;
    if computer == "MACA64"
-      % only the contrib version of OpenTelemetry Collector is available on Apple silicon
-      testCase.OtelcolName = "otelcol-contrib";
+      otelcol_arch_name = "darwin_arm64";
+   else
+      otelcol_arch_name = "darwin_amd64";
    end
+   otelcol_exe_ext = "";
+
+end
 
+% OpenTelemetry Collector
+otelcolname = "otelcol";
+if isempty(otelcolroot)
+    % collector not pre-installed
+    otelcol_version = "0.85.0";
+    otelcol_url = "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v" ...
+        + otelcol_version;
+    otelcol_zipfilename = "otelcol_" + otelcol_version + "_" + otelcol_arch_name;
+    otelcolroot = fullfile(tempdir, otelcol_zipfilename);
+
+    % look for it in tempdir, download and install if it doesn't exist
+    if ~(exist(fullfile(otelcolroot, otelcolname + otelcol_exe_ext),"file") || ...
+            exist(fullfile(otelcolroot,otelcolname + "-contrib" + otelcol_exe_ext),"file"))
+        % download and install
+        otelcol_tar = gunzip(fullfile(otelcol_url, otelcol_zipfilename + ".tar.gz"), otelcolroot);
+        otelcol_tar = otelcol_tar{1}; % should have only extracted 1 tar file
+        untar(otelcol_tar, otelcolroot);
+        delete(otelcol_tar);
+    end
+end
+% check for contrib version
+if exist(fullfile(otelcolroot,otelcolname + "-contrib" + otelcol_exe_ext),"file")
+    testCase.OtelcolName = otelcolname + "-contrib";
+else
+    testCase.OtelcolName = otelcolname;
 end
+
 testCase.Otelcol = fullfile(otelcolroot, testCase.OtelcolName);
 
 % set up path
-testCase.applyFixture(matlab.unittest.fixtures.PathFixture(testCase.OtelRoot));
+if ~isempty(otelroot)
+    testCase.applyFixture(matlab.unittest.fixtures.PathFixture(otelroot));
+end
 
 % remove temporary files if present
 if exist(testCase.JsonFile, "file")
diff --git a/test/performance/traceTest.m b/test/performance/traceTest.m
index c9700eb..91ed707 100644
--- a/test/performance/traceTest.m
+++ b/test/performance/traceTest.m
@@ -3,10 +3,9 @@
 
     properties
         OtelConfigFile
-        OtelRoot
         JsonFile
         PidFile
-	OtelcolName
+	    OtelcolName
         Otelcol
         ListPid
         ReadPidList
diff --git a/test/tbaggage.m b/test/tbaggage.m
index 91c2592..8a99609 100644
--- a/test/tbaggage.m
+++ b/test/tbaggage.m
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
     % Copyright 2023 The MathWorks, Inc.
 
     properties
-        OtelRoot
         BaggageKeys
         BaggageValues
         BaggageHeaders
@@ -12,10 +11,12 @@
 
     methods (TestClassSetup)
         function setupOnce(testCase)
-            testCase.OtelRoot = getenv("OPENTELEMETRY_MATLAB_INSTALL");
+            otelroot = getenv("OPENTELEMETRY_MATLAB_INSTALL");
 
             % set up path
-            addpath(testCase.OtelRoot);
+            if ~isempty(otelroot)
+                addpath(otelroot);
+            end
 
             testCase.BaggageKeys = ["userId", "serverNode", "isProduction"];
             testCase.BaggageValues = ["alice", "DF28", "false"];
diff --git a/test/tcontextPropagation.m b/test/tcontextPropagation.m
index bcf9dc3..8b8ec71 100644
--- a/test/tcontextPropagation.m
+++ b/test/tcontextPropagation.m
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@
 
     properties
         OtelConfigFile
-        OtelRoot
         JsonFile
         PidFile
-	OtelcolName
+    	OtelcolName
         Otelcol
         ListPid
         ReadPidList
diff --git a/test/ttrace.m b/test/ttrace.m
index 115fe3d..8b01773 100644
--- a/test/ttrace.m
+++ b/test/ttrace.m
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@
 
     properties
         OtelConfigFile
-        OtelRoot
         JsonFile
         PidFile
-	OtelcolName
+    	OtelcolName
         Otelcol
         ListPid
         ReadPidList