The state problem for test generation in Simulink

摘要

Search based test-data generation has proved successful for code-level testing. In this paper we investigate the application of such approaches at the higher levels of abstraction offered by Matlab-Simulink models. The presence of persistent state has been shown to be problematic at the code level and such difficulties remain when Matlab-Simulink models are to be tested. In such cases, sequences of inputs that can put the model under test into particular states are needed to enable the underlying test goals to be achieved. Simple search guidance appears to be insufficient and results in a 'flat' cost function landscape. To address this problem, we introduce a technique called tracing and deducing, which helps provide better guidance to the search, allowing our developed tools to home in on the targeted test-data.