Modelling and design of the formal approach for generating test sequences of ETCS level 2 based on the CPN

Abstract

This paper on a formal approach for generating test sequences of ETCS Level 2 (European Train Control System Level 2, ETCS-2) is from the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer System Design and Operation in Railways and Other Transit Systems, held in Beijing, China, in 2010. The ETCS is a safety-critical system (SCS). The authors propose a new Colored Petri Net (CPN) model-based formal approach for test cases and sequences generation to increase the test automation degree of the ETCS-2 system and subsystems. They describe the automated test approach, which includes an automatic test case generating algorithm and a type of automatic test sequence searching algorithm. The output of this approach is a set of well-formed XML (Extensible Markup Language) file that can be used to increase the automation degree of the test executing process. The authors also built and analyzed a partial model of an ETCS-2 On-Board subsystem using the CPN Tools as a case study. They conclude that their CPN-model based testing approach can be used to improve the automation of the testing procedure and the generated test cases can meet the relevant requirements.