A New approach to generating and selecting test sequences for conformance testing

• Main Author: Zhou, Limin
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/2709

To enhance the probability of interworking among protocol implementations, the implementations must be tested for conformance to the standards they purport to support. This thesis deals with several important aspects in protocol conformance testing based on ESTELLE.Y, a variant of the formal description technique ESTELLE. A new method for generating test sequences is presented. It combines both control flow analysis and data flow analysis. The test case generation is done automatically by an extensive and systematic analysis of the formal protocol specification. The resulting test sequences have at least the same fault detection power as that of the characterizing sequences used for control flow analysis, and also the fault detection capability as that of the all definition and use strategy for data flow analysis. The constraint relations of input and output parameters are also generated automatically. The input constraints are used to guide the data selection process while the output constraints are used to check the validity of the output behaviours. The Abstract Test Case Relation Model provides an abstract model to establish the ordering relations among the test cases in a test suite. This relation is used to dynamically select test cases for execution during testing and helps to reduce the number of test cases executed by eliminating those that are guaranteed to fail. This will result in efficient testing. Methods for the combined data flow and control flow analysis and for generating the ATCRM from protocol specifications have been implemented. We also proposed and implemented a constraint generation method based on normal form specification. The techniques and prototype implementations presented in this thesis form an important part of the UBC Protocol Testing Environment which aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the conformance testing process.