Search-Based Prediction of Fault Count Data

Symbolic regression, an application domain of genetic programming (GP), aims to find a function whose output has some desired property, like matching target values of a particular data set. While typical regression involves finding the coefficients of a pre-defined function, symbolic regression finds a general function, with coefficients, fitting the given set of data points. The concepts of symbolic regression using genetic programming can be used to evolve a model for fault count predictions. Such a model has the advantages that the evolution is not dependent on a particular structure of the model and is also independent of any assumptions, which are common in traditional time-domain parametric software reliability growth models. This research aims at applying experiments targeting fault predictions using genetic programming and comparing the results with traditional approaches to compare efficiency gains.