Title: Predicting residual software fault content and their location during multi-phase functional testing using test coverage

Authors: Carol S. Smidts; Ying Shi

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, E 418 Scott Laboratory, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA ' 15105 Centergate Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20905, USA

Abstract: Multi-phase functional testing is a common practice which is used in ultra-reliable software development to ensure that no known faults reside in the software to be delivered. In this paper, we present a new test coverage-based model which allows the description of software systems developed through multiple phases of functional testing. This model is further extended: (a) to take advantage of auxiliary observations collected during the multi-phase testing and consequent analysis process to refine the predictions made; (b) to describe software systems where either the initial fault distribution is non-uniform with respect to location, or the repair and test and detection process favour certain locations.

Keywords: test coverage; multi-phase testing; imperfect repair; defect location prediction; recursive Bayesian estimation; residual software faults; software development; software reliability; software testing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRS.2013.055823

International Journal of Reliability and Safety, 2013 Vol.7 No.1, pp.32 - 57

Accepted: 28 Apr 2011
Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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