Arcadia Papers: ABSTRACT
"An Information Flow Model of Fault Detection,"
by Margaret C. Thompson, Debra J. Richardson, and Lori A. Clarke in
Proceeding of the 1993 International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis,
pages 182-192, Cambridge, MA, June 1993.
Abstract
RELAY is a model of how a fault causes a failure on execution of some test
datum. This process begins with introduction of an original state potential
failure at a fault location and continues as the potential failure(s)
transfers to output. Here we describe the second stage of this process,
transfer of an incorrect intermediate state from a faulty statement to
output.
Transfer occurs along information flow chains, where each link in the
chain involves data dependence transfer and/or control dependence transfer.
RELAY models concurrent transfer along multiple information flow chains
with transfer sets, which identify possible interaction between potential
failures, and with transfer routes, which identify actual interactions.
Transfer sets, transfer routes, and control dependence transfer are
unique to the RELAY model.
The model demonstrates that the process of potential failure transfer
is extremely complex and full analysis of real programs may not be
practical. Nonetheless, RELAY provides insight into testing and fault
detection and suggests an approach to fault-based testing and analysis
that may be warranted for critical systems software.
The Arcadia Project
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Last modified: Fri Nov 11 14:39:25 1994