EM algorithm for discrete software reliability models: a unified parameter estimation method

In this paper, we consider the discrete software reliability models to assess the software reliability in discrete time circumstance, and develop a unified parameter estimation method based on the EM (Expectation-Maximization) principle. In numerical examples, the effectiveness of the EM algorithm to estimate the model parameters in the discrete software reliability models is investigated with real software error data. It is shown that the proposed method can provide the accurate estimates of model parameters effectively.