A systematic map on verification and validation of emergent behavior in software engineering research

Abstract

Context:Emergent behavior cannot be attributed to one individual system alone but arises in the interplay of various systems, components etc. Ensuring the correctness of emergent behavior is a well-known challenge that has been addressed by research in various subfields of software engineering. Objective:This paper aims at providing a unified view on the research activities conducted and research contributions made on verification and validation of emergent behavior. Methods:We have conducted a systematic mapping study on the topic of verification and validation of emergent behavior. We applied a combined search strategy using manual, database, and snowball search. In total we investigated 7211 papers, from these 168 relevant papers have been included and classified. Results:Results show an increasing interest in the topic of verification and validation of emergent behavior. As only little validation and evaluation research has been conducted, the field can be considered still immature. There exist different verification and validation techniques used in the various solution approaches such as model checking, simulation, or runtime monitoring. It stands out that even though research is published in different software engineering fields and subfields no verification or validation technique can be attributed solely to a single field.