Reconstruction of a functional test sequence for increased fault coverage

Abstract

Simulation-based sequential test generation procedures address the high computational complexity of sequential test generation by replacing the deterministic branch-and-bound process with lower-complexity processes. These processes introduce new primary input patterns into a functional test sequence in order to increase its fault coverage. This study observes that, even without introducing new primary input patterns, it is possible to increase the fault coverage of a functional test sequence by applying the same primary input patterns in different orders. This is referred to as reconstruction of the sequence. It provides a new low-complexity option for increasing the fault coverage, and thus addressing the high computational complexity of sequential test generation. This study describes a reconstruction procedure that is based on repeating short subsequences of primary input patterns from the sequence. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the reconstruction procedure in increasing the fault coverage as part of a simulation-based sequential test generation procedure.