Improving design dependability by exploiting an open model-based specification

In an open system standards environment, a formal specification can be shared by all of its implementations, which results in the sharing of development cost. This paper presents a specification-based adaptive test case generation (SBATCG) method for generating validation test cases and a specification-based adaptive consistency check generation (SBACCG) method for generating on-line consistency checks for implementations developed from a model-based specification. The SBATCG (SBACCG) method first derives test cases (consistency checks) through rigorous exploration of a model-based specification, adapts the test cases (consistency checks) to the program structure of a particular implementation, and then produces test cases (consistency checks) that are particularly suitable for the implementation. Testing does not guarantee a program's freedom from faults. The results of the fault-injection experiment show that the SBACCG method can complement the SBATCG method.