This thesis is a contribution to work on the specification-based testing of computing systems. The development of computing systems is a challenging task. A great deal of research has been directed at support for analysis, design and implementation aspects, yielding a wide range of development techniques. However, the crucial area of system testing remains relatively under-explored. Because a project may spend a good part of its budget on testing, even modest improvements to the cost-effectiveness of testing represent substantial improvements in project budgets. Relatively little literature has been devoted to the entire testing process, including specification, generation, execution and validation. Most of the academic literature seems to assume a revolutionary change of the testing framework. On the contrary industry follows a more traditional approach consisting of trusted methods and based on personal experience. There is a need for testing methods that improve the effectiveness of testing but do so at reasonable cost and which do not require a revolutionary change in the development technology. The novel goal of the work described in this thesis is to "lift" traditional testing so that it takes advantage of system specifications. We provide a framework - hepTEsT- which is motivated by this goal. To that end, hepTEsT is a framework consisting of a specification language, a technology for generating tests in accordance with test strategies, a means of applying the tests to the implementations and support for validation of outcomes against the specification-based tests. We will first categorise different testing methodologies and then examine some of the past and present approaches to test data: we develop only the necessary theoretical foundations for hepSPEc and always consider the requirements of testing. The formalism hepSPEc for system description is based upon a well-defined algebraic approach. It utilises a novel approach allowing the description of finite domains in a way suitable for engineering purposes. The engineers' tasks are to provide an adequate description of the system in hepSPEC. The approach proposed in this thesis is grounded in the traditional approach to testing where test data is provided to the system under test and the outcome is compared to the expected outcome. To enhance the capabilities of the framework a general order on test inputs is proposed to be used in test strategies. Traditional testing strategies requiring an order on test inputs are introduced and their realisation in hepTEsT discussed as well as a proposal of new strategies which lend themselves to this particular approach. The manipulation of the specification yields abstract test cases which are then transformed into test cases suitable for the chosen implementation of the system. This transformation, called test reification, is necessary to bridge the "abstraction gap" between the abstract specification-derived tests and the concrete implementation on which the test must run. The transformation is necessary in order for the approach to be practical and is achieved through homomorphisms which are expressed in specially adapted grammars. This transformation is also applied to the generated test outcome and is aimed there at easing test result validation. The utility of the hepTEsT approach is illustrated by means of a simple example, a larger case study and one carried out within the aviation industry.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Emerging technologies in the field of "Test & Measurement" have recently enabled the development of the Rapidly Adaptable Instrumentation Tester (RAIT). Based on software developed with LabVIEW®, the RAIT design enables quick reconfiguration to test and calibrate a wide variety of telemetry systems. The consequences of inadequate testing could be devastating if a telemetry system were to fail during an expensive flight mission. Supporting both open-bench testing as well as automated test sequences, the RAIT has significantly lowered total time required to test and calibrate a system. This has resulted in an overall lower per unit testing cost than has been achievable in the past.

<p>Testing plays a very important role for assuring the quality of developed software. In a modern vehicle, more and more of the functionality is controlled by software and the complexity of the software always increases. The expectations on automating the testing process are to save time and to reach an even higher quality.</p><p>In this thesis, which was performed at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a new tool for automated tests is studied. The tool is used for software in the loop simulation based system tests. The user specifies which outputs that shall be observed and which inputs that can be controlled. Based on these prerequisites, test cases are generated.</p><p>It has been studied how to apply the tool, how the test case generation can be influenced, on which systems it successfully could be used and which results that could be reached with the tool. The tool has been evaluated on the hand of two real-life examples; the software of an automatic transmission and of a pressure controller, a module of this software. It was found that there are many interesting possibilities to apply the tool in order to support the present testing process.</p>

Testing plays a very important role for assuring the quality of developed software. In a modern vehicle, more and more of the functionality is controlled by software and the complexity of the software always increases. The expectations on automating the testing process are to save time and to reach an even higher quality. In this thesis, which was performed at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a new tool for automated tests is studied. The tool is used for software in the loop simulation based system tests. The user specifies which outputs that shall be observed and which inputs that can be controlled. Based on these prerequisites, test cases are generated. It has been studied how to apply the tool, how the test case generation can be influenced, on which systems it successfully could be used and which results that could be reached with the tool. The tool has been evaluated on the hand of two real-life examples; the software of an automatic transmission and of a pressure controller, a module of this software. It was found that there are many interesting possibilities to apply the tool in order to support the present testing process.

The primary aim of this research project was to investigate techniques to replace the complicated process of testing embedded systems in automotive domain. The multi-component domain was composed of different hardware to be used in testing procedure which increased the level of difficulty in testing for an operator. As a result, an existing semi-automated testing procedure was replaced by more simpler and efficient framework (ViBATA). A key step taken in this scenario was the replacement of manual GUI interface with the scriptable one to enhance the automation. This was achieved by building a Domain-specific language which allowed test definition in the form of human readable scripts which could be stored for later use. A DSL is a scripting language defined for a particular domain with compact expressiveness. In this case the domain is testing embedded systems in general and automotive systems in particular. The final product was a test case specification document in the form of XML as an output of generated code from this DSL which will be input to ViBATA to make test specification component automated. In this research a comparative analysis of existing DSLs for alternative domains and investigation of their applicability to the presented domain was also performed. The technologies used in this project are Xtext to define the DSL grammar, Xtend to generate code in Java and Simple framework to generate output in XML. The stages involved in DSL development and how these stages were implemented is covered in this thesis. The developed DSL for this domain is tested for automotive and calculator systems in this thesis which proved that this is more general and flexible. The DSL is consistent, efficient and automated test specification component of testing framework in embedded systems.

The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship between immersion running and treadmill running through the measurement of cardiorespiratory parameters. Sixteen subjects completed two exercise protocols to exhaustion. The treadmill running protocol was initiated at 3.08 m*s-l and increased a 0.22 m*s-l every sixty seconds. The immersion running protocol utilized an immersion running Ergometer (IRE). The IRE is similar to a tethered swim machine. The initial weight was set at 1 kg and Increased a 1/2 kg every sixty seconds. Heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (V02), ventilatory equivalent (VE/V02), and minute ventilation (VE) were determined at ventilatory threshold and at maximal effort, HR, V02, VE/V02 and VE were analyzed by MANOVA (RM). Tidal volume and frequency of breathing were collected for four subjects at ventilatory threshold and at maximal effort (no statistical analysis). Two subjects who had completed the initial exercise protocols volunteered for a follow up study of blood flow distribution testing (no statistical analysis). These subjects were injected with Tc-99 2-methyloxy isobutyl isonitrlle at ventilatory threshold during immersion and treadmill running. Imaging was performed with a Selmans Gamma Camera at the UBC Dept. of Nuclear Medicine. V02 and HR at ventilatory threshold and maximal effort were significantly lower (P < .05) during immersion running. VE/V02 was significantly greater at maximal effort during immersion. Minute ventilation was unaffected by immersion, however, there was a trend towards a smaller tidal volume and greater frequency of breathing. The blood flow distribution data varied considerably partially between subjects. The significant drop in V02 at maximum effort and at ventilation threshold during immersion running may be accounted for by changes in muscle mass recruitment, muscle fibre type recruitment, recruitment pattern and state of peripheral adaptation (muscular). A lower heart rate during immersion may be due to increases in intrathoracic blood volume. The trend towards a higher breathing frequency and lower tidal volume during immersion running may be due to the increased effort to breath caused by hydrostatic chest compression. The significant increase in VE/V02 at maximal effort during immersion running was due to the significant drop in V02. It may be concluded that immersion running causes significant changes in cardiorespiratory parameters at ventilatory threshold and at maximal effort. Research is needed to investigate the significance of the changes. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

A number of tests were conducted to determine the realizable accuracies of the Global Positioning System for natural resource conditions. The effects of terrain, forest canopy, number of consecutive position fixes, and PDOP on accuracy were evaluated. Position accuracies were determined for a total of 27 sites: three replicate sites selected for each of nine distinct conditions: three canopy (deciduous, coniferous, open) and three terrain (ridge, slope, valley) in all possible combinations. Each site was visited ten times over a span of eight months to collect position data, for ten replicates of 60, 100, 200, 300, and 500 position fixes. The mean differentially corrected positional accuracy for all sites was 4.35 meters with 95 percent of the positions estimated within 10.2 meters of the true value. The least accurate differential position data were observed at coniferous sites. Positional accuracy was higher for deciduous sites and the most accurate differential position data was collected at open sites. Accuracy increased with increasing number of position fixes. When the number of position fixes increased from 60 to 500, mean accuracy increased 46.7% at deciduous sites, 32.8% at coniferous sites, and 44.5% at open sites. The average time required by the GPS receiver to lock onto four satellites and begin collecting positions varied from one to two minutes. The most time was spent collecting position fixes at coniferous sites. No correlation was found between accuracy and the receiver's distance from the base-station. Nine replicates of 300 position fixes were averaged for six sites, which ranged from 43 kilometers to 247 kilometers from a Virginia Tech base-station. Mean accuracy ranged from 1.48 meters to 2.43 meters. GPS position data were evaluated for ease of conversion to GIS formats. Conversion was accomplished without problems. / Master of Science

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Weapons System Test and Integration Laboratory (WSTIL) at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) will provide a new capability for ground based testing in this arena. Current and near term YPG scheduled test programs will benefit tremendously from this enhanced ground test capability provided by the Weapons STIL. The Weapons STIL's design goals center on the implementation of an automated mechanism for testing the weapon systems and sensors that are currently the responsibility of the YPG facility. To meet the Army's weapons test needs the Weapons STIL incorporates various levels of digital stimulation, human-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and installed system test facility (ISTF) techniques to maximize ground testing in order to focus and optimize subsequent open air flight testing. This paper describes this work in progress.

The problem with which this study was concerned was that of developing a valid and reliable physical fitness test for college women which could be readily administered to large groups in a short period of time.

O desenvolvimento de versões móveis de sistemas corporativos que já executam em plataformas Desktop e/ou Web tem se tornado comum. No entanto, o processo de migração tanto da lógica de programação quanto dos testes pode ser bastante complexo, embora muitas funcionalidades permaneçam as mesmas no novo ambiente. Este trabalho propõe o reúso de cenários de teste automatizados como uma alternativa para diminuir este esforço de migração. Para isso, propõe-se uma metodologia para o reúso de cenários de teste suportada por um framework de automação de testes. A metodologia propõe que cenários BDD sejam escritos uma única vez e executados em diferentes plataformas, como Desktop, Web, Móvel ou outra que venha a existir. Para dar suporte à metodologia proposta, o framework dbehave foi estendido para permitir a execução de cenários de teste em plataformas móveis. Uma segunda extensão no framework permite ainda que cenários específicos de uma plataforma possam ser escritos junto aos demais cenários mas executados apenas na plataforma de interesse, permitindo ao desenvolvedor uma maior autonomia na organização e manutenção dos cenários. A metodologia proposta foi utilizada em dois estudos de caso e se mostrou útil, uma vez que uma média de 81.2% dos cenários de aplicações reais foram reutilizados, havendo uma redução considerável no esforço de migração entre plataformas e na escrita de cenários. / The development of enterprise applications in multiple platforms (Desktop and/or Web and/or Mobile) has become a trend. However, the process of migrating both programming logic and software tests can be very complex, although many functionalities remain the same in the new environment. This work proposes the reuse of automated test scenarios as an alternative to reduce this migration effort. We propose a test methodology that is supported by a test automation framework. The methodology proposes the developer writes BDD scenarios only once and executes such scenarios on different platforms, such as Desktop, Web, Mobile or other that may exist. The dbehave framework was extended to support the execution of test scenarios in mobile platforms. Furthermore, the framework now allows the selection of which scenarios should be executed in which platforms, i.e., platform-specific scenarios can be written next to the other scenarios and run only on the platform of interest. This provides the developer greater autonomy in the organization and maintenance of the scenarios. The proposed methodology was used in two case studies and proved useful, since an average of 81.2% of the real application scenarios were reused, with a considerable reduction in the effort for cross-platform migration and scenario writing.