Specifying and Generating Test Cases Using Observer Automata

We present a technique for specifying coverage criteria and a method for generating test suites for systems whose behaviours can be described as extended finite state machines (EFSM). To specify coverage criteria we use observer automata with parameters, which monitor and accept traces that cover a given test criterion of an EFSM. The flexibility of the technique is demonstrated by specifying a number of well-known coverage criteria based on control- and data-flow information using observer automata with parameters. We also develop a method for generating test cases from coverage criteria specified as observers. It is based on transforming a given observer automata into a bitvector analysis problem that can be efficiently implemented as an extension to an existing state-space exploration such as, e.g. SPIN or Uppaal.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: FATES
• Authors: Johan Blom, Anders Hessel, Bengt Jonsson, Paul Pettersson
• Keywords: Coverage Criteria, FATES 2004, Observer Automata, Well-known Coverage Criteria