An experience in validating train control systems by a grey-box testing approach

• 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 behavior 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 the 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

Automatic train protection systems

Black-box testing

Code coverage

Embedded control systems

Functional testing

Grey-box

Regression testing

System behaviors

System specification

System test

Systematic functional testing

Target systems

Test case

Train control systems

Automatic train control

Control systems

Reliability

Software testing

Specifications

Testing

Explosions

Data- och informationsvetenskap

Computer and Information Sciences Computer Science

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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