Software Reliability Testing Research Articles

Reliability estimation from appropriate testing of plant protection software

Plant protection software may be realistically tested using inputs from a plant model before its initial use, or when it is not feasible to take the plant into certain fault conditions. If statistical estimation of software reliability is to be performed using the test results, it is not sufficient for the plant model to produce inputs which are simply correct in the sense that the plant could have produced them. In addition, the operational distribution of the input space must be simulated. The paper illustrates how to perform such a simulation, by developing an example in which an existing non-random plant model is randomised to simulate the operational distribution of the software. In addition, two methods of estimating the probability of failure on demand (pfd) for a program are reported. Both methods estimate a pfd given results from dynamic testing, during which the program is exercised according to its operational distribution. The first method is standard and has been used previously in the context of software testing. The second estimation method has been developed recently within a program of Nuclear Electric research into software reliability testing. The distinguishing foundational assumptions of the two methods are discussed.

System Reliability: Concepts and Applications

Part 1 Deterministic reliability: Arrhenius' model failure mechanisms screening. Part 2 Statistical reliability: nomenclature operational reliability quantities. Part 3 Statistical failure of components: failure distributions - negative-exponential, normal, lognormal, Weibull and gamma distribution life distribution measurements. Part 4 Reliability models: catastrophic failure model stress-strength model Markov model. Part 5 Non-maintained systems: series systems redundancy parallel systems m-out-of-n systems majority voting systems mixed systems optimization analysis methods. Part 6 Maintained systems: systems with preventive maintenance - scheduled and condition-based systems with corrective maintenance - with and without redundancy, shared-repair facilities, inhomogenous systems maintenance aspects. Part 7 Evaluation methods: causal evaluation - FMEC analysis anti-causal evaluation - fault-tree analysis risk and safety. Part 8 Reliability of computer software: writing reliable software reliability testing failure model. Solutions to problems. Appendices: applied Laplace transforms the Central Limit theorem most commonly used symbols.

A conceptual model of software testing

AbstractAs code is executed correctly under test, confidence in the correctness of the code increases. In this context, an intuitive conceptual model of the process of software testing which draws upon experience gained with mutation analysis is presented. The model is used to explain how the testing of one path can influence confidence in other (possibly unexecuted) paths. It is also discussed in relation to software reliability and systematic structural testing, and is shown to be consistent with observations made during these forms of testing.