A test sequences optimization method for improving fault coverage

Abstract

Conformance testing for communication protocol is an active research field. But most research on test sequences generation and optimization focus on how to reduce the length of a test sequence or the automatic generation process. Less attention has been paid on how to improve the fault coverage of test sequences. Many test sequence generation methods, such as UIO method, do not guarantee complete fault coverage. In this paper, we propose a test sequences optimization method to raise fault coverage of UIO method. In this method, some key test sequences will be added to the former test suit, based on fault coverage evaluation results. Results show that this method could effectively improve the fault coverage without re-generating the whole set of test sequences. The experimental results given in Section 4 show that it could help to detect more distinguishable FSMs than former testing methods. This optimization method could not only be used on test sequences generated by UIO method, but also be added as an extended section of many other generation methods to improve test sequences generated.