User-friendly property specification and process verification - A case study with vehicle-commissioning processes

Abstract

Testing in the automotive industry is supposed to guarantee that vehicles are shipped without any flaw. Respective processes are complex, due to the variety of components and electronic devices in modern vehicles. To achieve error-free processes, their formal analysis is required. Specifying and maintaining properties the processes must satisfy in a user-friendly way is a core requirement on any verification system. We have observed that there are few pattern properties that testing processes adhere to, and we describe these patterns. They depend on the context of the processes, e.g., the components of the vehicle or testing stations. We have developed a framework that instantiates the property patterns at verification time and then verifies the process against these instances. Our empirical evaluation with the industrial partner has shown that our framework does detect property violations in processes. From expert interviews we conclude that our framework is user-friendly and well suited to operate in a real production environment. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.