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Testing Framework for Reproducible Execution & Race Condition Detection in Real-time Sys
Point of Contact Ken Chen
kchen@ems.jsc.nasa.gov
Dates January 2005 - December 2007
Problem In many NASA exploration missions, embedded software systems perform control functions of physical devices subject to real-time constraints. These systems often consist of concurrent threads and exhibit non-deterministic behavior, which makes verification of temporal behavior a great challenge. In this proposal, we depict a testing framework for system-level testing in temporal domain. Two major issues are addressed: reproducible execution and race condition detection. The framework enables points of control and observation during testing execution. With automated test sequence generation and result evaluation, variant scenarios, driven from prefixed test sequences, will be used to exercise different execution paths such that the software quality for critical space mission applications can be ensured.
Objective
  • By Jun 2005: A dynamic approach to systematically deriving all the synchronization behaviors of a real-time embedded software system.
  • By Mar 2006: A formal notation for specifying real-time constraints, and a library of templates for constraints that are frequently encountered in NASA applications.
  • By Sep 2006: A layered approach to enable the application of ordered test sequences that can be coordinated with system internal states and timing, and can be made through a flexible testing interface.
  • By Mar 2007: A tool for evaluating test runs against a set of real-time constraints.
  • By Dec 2007: Case studies on selected NASA applications. Final report.
    • Results SAS06_ExecPres_Chen_Reproducible_Execution_Race_Detection.ppt
    SAS06_TechPres_Chen_Testing_Framework.ppt
    SAS_07_Exec_Brief_v1_Testing_Framework_Chen.ppt
    SAS_07_Tech_Pres_technical_race condition_Chen.ppt
    Keywords software testing, software quality, mission critical software testing
    Categories Software Safety


    Curator: Josh Stonestreet
    NASA Official: Lisa Montgomery
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