A Novel Approach To Automated Testing To Increase Software Reliability

Software plays an increasingly important role in equipment and systems, both in terms of technical relevance and of development cost (often higher than 50% even for small systems). Unlike HW, SW does not go through a production phase. Also, SW cannot break or wear out. However, it can fail to satisfy its required function because of defects which manifest themselves while the system is operating (dynamic defects). A fault in the SW is thus caused by a defect, even if appears randomly in time, and SW problems are basically quality problems which have to be solved with quality assurance tools (configuration management, testing, and quality data reporting systems). In order to grant a software high quality level against a reasonable cost, the testing planning phase has to be study in detail. In order to do so, an adequate coverage of the product functionality has to be supplied to reduce the test time. The aim of the paper is suggesting an automated software testing as a solution to the problem of having to maximize the test plan coverage within the available time and to increase software reliability and quality in use.