Testing robots using CSP

This paper presents a technique for automatic generation of tests for robotic systems based on a domain-specific notation called RoboChart. This is a UML-like diagrammatic notation that embeds a component model suitable for robotic systems, and supports the definition of behavioural models using enriched state machines that can feature time properties. The formal semantics of RoboChart is given using tockCSP, a discrete-time variant of the process algebra CSP. In this paper, we use the example of a simple drone to illustrate an approach to generate tests from RoboChart models using a mutation tool called Wodel. From mutated models, tests are generated using the CSP model checker FDR. The testing theory of CSP justifies the soundness of the tests

Bounded Determinization of Timed Automata with Silent Transitions

Deterministic timed automata are strictly less expressive than their non-deterministic counterparts, which are again less expressive than those with silent transitions. As a consequence, timed automata are in general non-determinizable. This is unfortunate since deterministic automata play a major role in model-based testing, observability and implementability. However, by bounding the length of the traces in the automaton, effective determinization becomes possible. We propose a novel procedure for bounded determinization of timed automata. The procedure unfolds the automata to bounded trees, removes all silent transitions and determinizes via disjunction of guards. The proposed algorithms are optimized to the bounded setting and thus are more efficient and can handle a larger class of timed automata than the general algorithms. The approach is implemented in a prototype tool and evaluated on several examples. To our best knowledge, this is the first implementation of this type of procedure for timed automata.Comment: 25 page

Repairing Timed Automata Clock Guards through Abstraction and Testing

This is the author (and slightly extended) version of the manuscript of the same name published in the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Tests and Proofs (TAP 2019). This version contains some additional explanations and all proofsInternational audienceTimed automata (TAs) are a widely used formalism to specify systems having temporal requirements. However, exactly specifying the system may be difficult, as the user may not know the exact clock constraints triggering state transitions. In this work, we assume the user already specified a TA, and (s)he wants to validate it against an oracle that can be queried for acceptance. Under the assumption that the user only wrote wrong guard transitions (i.e., the structure of the TA is correct), the search space for the correct TA can be represented by a Parametric Timed Automaton (PTA), i.e., a TA in which some constants are parametrized. The paper presents a process that i) abstracts the initial (faulty) TA tainit in a PTA pta; ii) generates some test data (i.e., timed traces) from pta; iii) assesses the correct evaluation of the traces with the oracle; iv) uses the IMITATOR tool for synthesizing some constraints phi on the parameters of pta; v) instantiate from phi a TA tarep as final repaired model. Experiments show that the approach is successfully able to partially repair the initial design of the user

Combining Model Refinement and Test Generation for Conformance Testing of the IEEE PHD Protocol Using Abstract State Machines

In this paper we propose a new approach to conformance testing based on Abstract State Machine (ASM) model refinement. It consists in generating test sequences from ASM models and checking the conformance between code and models in multiple iterations. This process is applied at different models, starting from the more abstract model to the one that is very close to the code. The process consists of the following steps: (1) model the system as an Abstract State Machine, (2) generate test sequences based on the ASM model, (3) compute the code coverage using generated tests, (4) if the coverage is low refine the Abstract State Machine and return to step 2. We have applied the proposed approach to Antidote, an open-source implementation of IEEE 11073-20601 Personal Health Device (PHD) protocol which allows personal healthcare devices to exchange data with other devices such as small computers and smartphones

An Approximation-based Approach for the Random Exploration of Large Models

International audienceSystem modeling is a classical approach to ensure their reliability since it is suitable both for a formal verification and for software testing techniques. In the context of model-based testing an approach combining random testing and coverage based testing has been recently introduced [9]. However, this approach is not tractable on quite large models. In this paper we show how to use statistical approximations to make the approach work on larger models. Experimental results, on models of communicating protocols, are provided; they are very promising, both for the computation time and for the quality of the generated test suites

Regular Expression Learning with Evolutionary Testing and Repair

Regular expressions are widely used to describe and document regular languages, and to identify a set of (valid) strings. Often they are not available or known, and they must be learned or inferred. Classical approaches like L* make strong assumptions that normally do not hold. More feasible are testing approaches in which it is possible only to generate strings and check them with the underlying system acting as oracle. In this paper, we devise a method that starting from an initial guess of the regular expression, it repeatedly generates and feeds strings to the system to check whether they are accepted or not, and it tries to repair consistently the alleged solution. Our approach is based on an evolutionary algorithm in which both the population of possible solutions and the set of strings co-evolve. Mutation is used for the population evolution in order to produce the offspring. We run a set of experiments showing that the string generation policy is effective and that the evolutionary approach outperforms existing techniques for regular expression repair