A grey-box approach to the functional testing of complex automatic train protection systems

• Systematic functional testing is a fundamental step of embedded control systems development cycle, as it allows to verify and validate their final implementation. Various approaches to black-box testing have been proposed, however they either involve test-case explosion or do not ensure the correctness of system behaviour in scenarios not covered by system specifications. To cope with such issues, a methodology which better suits both complexity and safety-criticality of the target system is needed. This paper describes the ASF functional testing methodology, based on a grey-box approach aimed at generating and reducing an extensive set of influence variables and test-cases. The methodology, embracing different aspects of system test process (code coverage verification, regression testing, etc.), was successfully applied to validate ASF implementation of SCMT (an Italian project for an Automatic Train Protection System). The results obtained in our testing experience proved the time effectiveness and extensive coverage of the proposed approach.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Inbäddad systemteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Embedded Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Computational complexity

Computer science

Control systems

Embedded systems

Mechanical testing

Regression analysis

Specifications

Systems analysis

Black-box testing

System specifications

Systematic functional testing

Systems development cycle

Automatic train control

Data- och informationsvetenskap

Computer and Information Sciences Computer Science

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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