Incorporating code coverage in the reliability estimation for fault-tolerant software

Abstract

Presents a technique that uses coverage measures in reliability estimation for fault-tolerant programs, particularly N-version software. This technique exploits both coverage and time measures collected during testing phases for the individual program versions and the N-version software system for reliability prediction. The application of this technique to single-version software was presented in our previous research (IEEE 3rd Int. Symp. on Software Metrics, Berlin, Germany, March 1996). In this paper, we extend this technique and apply it on the N-version programs. The results obtained from the experiment conducted on an industrial project demonstrate that our technique significantly reduces the hazard of reliability overestimation for both single-version and multi-version fault-tolerant software systems.