Automated test suite generation for time-continuous simulink models

Reza Matinnejad, Shiva Nejati, Lionel C. Briand, Thomas Bruckmann

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

All engineering disciplines are founded and rely on models, although they may differ on purposes and usages of modeling. Interdisciplinary domains such as Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) seek approaches that incorporate different modeling needs and usages. Specifically, the Simulink modeling platform greatly appeals to CPS engineers due to its seamless support for simulation and code generation. In this paper, we propose a test generation approach that is applicable to Simulink models built for both purposes of simulation and code generation. We define test inputs and outputs as signals that capture evolution of values over time. Our test generation approach is implemented as a meta-heuristic search algorithm and is guided to produce test outputs with diverse shapes according to our proposed notion of diversity. Our evaluation, performed on industrial and public domain models, demonstrates that: (1) In contrast to the existing tools for testing Simulink models that are only applicable to a subset of code generation models, our approach is applicable to both code generation and simulation Simulink models. (2) Our new notion of diversity for output signals outperforms random baseline testing and an existing notion of signal diversity in revealing faults in Simulink models. (3) The fault revealing ability of our test generation approach outperforms that of the Simulink Design Verifier, the only testing toolbox for Simulink.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2016 IEEE/ACM 38th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering Companion, ICSE 2016
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages595-606
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781450339001, 9781450342056
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 May 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event2016 IEEE/ACM 38th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2016 - Austin, United States
Duration: 14 May 201622 May 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
Volume14-22-May-2016
ISSN (Print)0270-5257

Conference

Conference2016 IEEE/ACM 38th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin
Period14/05/1622/05/16

Keywords

  • Output diversity
  • Search-based software testing
  • Signal features
  • Simulink Design Verifier (SLDV)
  • Simulink models
  • Software testing
  • Structural coverage
  • Time-continuous behaviors

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