2018/03/23 by Sara Ericsson, Eduard Paul Enoiu, Ericsson, Sara +1
Computer Science · Engineering · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Model-Driven Software Engineering Techniques #Safety Systems Engineering in Autonomy #Software Engineering (cs.SE) #Software System Performance and Reliability
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1803.09006
openalex publication_date 2018/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Combinatorial testing has been suggested as an effective method of creating\ntest cases at a lower cost. However, industrially applicable tools for modeling\nand combinatorial test generation are still scarce. As a direct effect,\ncombinatorial testing has only seen a limited uptake in industry that calls\ninto question its practical usefulness. This lack of evidence is especially\ntroublesome if we consider the use of combinatorial test generation for\nindustrial safety-critical control software, such as are found in trains,\nairplanes, and power plants. To study the industrial application of\ncombinatorial testing, we evaluated ACTS, a popular tool for combinatorial\nmodeling and test generation, in terms of applicability and test efficiency on\nindustrial-sized IEC 61131-3 industrial control software running on\nProgrammable Logic Controllers (PLC). We assessed ACTS in terms of its direct\napplicability in combinatorial modeling of IEC 61131-3 industrial software and\nthe efficiency of ACTS in terms of generation time and test suite size. We used\n17 industrial control programs provided by Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB\nand used in a train control management system. Our results show that not all\ncombinations of algorithms and interaction strengths could generate a test\nsuite within a realistic cut-off time. The results of the modeling process and\nthe efficiency evaluation of ACTS are useful for practitioners considering to\nuse combinatorial testing for industrial control software as well as for\nresearchers trying to improve the use of such combinatorial testing techniques.\n