ABSTRACT

This paper describes a test case generation algorithm for Simulink/Stateflow models based on the Rapidly exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm that has been successfully applied to path finding. An important factor influencing the performance of the RRT algorithm is the metric used for calculating the distance between the nodes in the RRT space. Since a test case for a Simulink/Stateflow (SL/SF) model is an input sequence to check a specific condition (called a test target in this paper) at a specific status of the model, it is necessary to drive the model to the status before checking the condition. A status maps to a node of the RRT. It is usually necessary to check various conditions at a specific status. For example, when the specific status represents an SL/SF model state from which multiple transitions are made, we must check multiple conditions to measure the transition coverage. We propose a unique distance calculation metric, based on the observation that the test targets are gathered around some specific status such as an SL/SF state, named key nodes in this paper. The proposed metric increases the probability that an RRT is extended from key nodes by imposing penalties to non-key nodes. A test case generation algorithm utilizing the proposed metric is proposed. Three models of Electrical Control Units (ECUs) embedded in a commercial vehicle are used for the performance evaluation. The performances are evaluated in terms of penalties and compared with those of the algorithm using a typical RRT algorithm.