Model-based robustness testing for avionics-embedded software

Robustness testing for safety-critical embedded software is still a challenge in its nascent stages. In this paper, we propose a practical methodology and implement an environment by employing model-based robustness testing for embedded software systems. It is a system-level black-box testing approach in which the fault behaviors of embedded software is triggered with the aid of model-based fault injection by the support of an executable model-driven hardware-in-loop (HIL) testing environment. The prototype implementation of the robustness testing environment based on the proposed approach is experimentally discussed and illustrated by industrial case studies based on several avionics-embedded software systems. The results show that our proposed and implemented robustness testing method and environment are effective to find more bugs, and reduce burdens of testing engineers to enhance efficiency of testing tasks, especially for testing complex embedded systems.