AUTOMATED SPECIFICATION OF TESTING FOR SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

THE PRIMARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED WORK IS TO DEVELOP AUTOMATED TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO SUPPORT THE SOFTWARE TESTING PROCESS. THIS OBJECTIVE IS CONSISTENT WITH THE SONEX EFFORT TO PROVIDE KNOWLEDGE BASED ASSISTANCE FOR TESTING LARGE, COMPLEX SYSTEM. CENTRAL TO OUR DEVELOPMENT WORK IS THE LEVEL I MODULE OF EXTEND, A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM WHICH GENERATES TEST PLANS THROUGHOUT THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE. EXTEND IS CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED UNDER PHASE II OF A SBIR CONTRACT AND PROVIDES A BASIC LEVEL OF SUPPORT. OUR PROPOSED PHASE I RESEARCH FOR NOSC WILL PROVIDE BROADER TEST COVERAGE INCLUDING DESIGN, SPECIFICATION, UNIT AND COMPONENT TESTING AND ANALYSIS TOOLS BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION OF LEVEL I EXTEND. THE LEVEL I MODULE OF EXTEND PROVIDES TEST PLAN GENERATION FROM REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATIONS, DESIGN AND CODE. IT IS LIMITED IN THE SCOPE OF ITS AUTOMATED ASSISTANCE, AND FURTHER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ARE NEEDED TO PROVIDE MORE COMPLETE COVERAGE. THE FOUNDATION FOR THIS WORK IS IN PLACE WITH LEVEL I OF EXTEND. BUILDING ONTO THIS FOUNDATION WILL GIVE NOSC A ROBUST TEST CAPABILITY, ORIENTED TO THEIR PARTICULAR NEEDS, THROUGH THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH EFFORT.