Adapting Keyword driven test automation framework to IEC 61131-3 industrial control applications using PLCopen XML

Factory Acceptance Testing should involve customer´s experts and knowledge in defining, reading and validating tests, while keeping labor costs at moderate level. This involvement requires a testing approach, which hides implementation details and emphasizes domain terminology. Keyword driven testing is seen a viable test automation solution to reduce cost and enable customer involvement in acceptance testing. We propose an approach for adaptation of Keyword driven testing framework to IEC 61131-3 industrial process control applications. It utilizes importing of application elements, presented with PLCopen XML, and transforming them to proxy objects to be used as variables in test code, with domain specific names. Benefits include simplification of test and keyword specifications and hiding of implementation details from testers.