Conceptual design of test aides for flight critical control systems

This paper describes the conceptual design of a suite of tools that will aid and/or automate various aspects of the control system verification and validation process. The suite provides for the definition of system data, generation of test procedures, and semi-automated test execution and evaluation. One element of this long-range vision, the Test Procedure Generator, is in the early stages of development under NASA´s Small Business Innovative Research program. The TPG supports testing at the component, subsystem and complete system levels. It accepts system design data, including component and interface layout, as well as detailed component behavioral specifications defined using functional block diagrams. The TPG allows identification of the system elements to test and the specific interfaces to stimulate and/or monitor. The TPG aids the test engineer by suggesting tests to perform and generating detailed test procedures in a language suitable for automated test implementation