FSM-based test case generation methods applied to test the communication software on board the ITASAT university satellite: A case study

Abstract

The software in satellite applications has become increasingly larger, more complex and more integrated, so its verification and validation require exploration of new approaches. In this paper we present a Model-Based Testing (MBT) approach applied to the Communication Module of the ITASAT-1 university satellite. The models are Finite State Machines (FSM) representing the software behavior. In order to manage the difficulties to model the software behavior the approach employs the Conformance and Fault Injection (CoFI) testing methodology associated with the JPlavisFSM tool in the real context of a satellite’s critical software. The former advises the modularization of the modelling into different types of behavior into different FSMs, while the latter integrates several FSM-based methods to derive test cases, provides facilities to design and to check properties of the models and computes metrics. The main result of this case study was the evaluation of the drawbacks on the design of the testing models supported by CoFI and JPlavisFSM. The models, test sets, metrics with the application of our approach applied to the Communication Module are presented. The paper discusses the benefits as well as the points requiring new researches.