Testing Conformance of Real-Time Applications by Automatic Generation of Observers

We propose a new methodology for automated testing of real-time applications in general and robotic applications in particular. The starting point is a high-level specification which can be automatically translated into a network of timed automata. Analog or digital-clock observers are then generated from the timed automata specification. The system under test (SUT) is instrumented to export observable events and corresponding time-stamps. The traces generated by the SUT are fed to the observer (on-the-fly or off-line). The latter checks whether each trace conforms to the specification. The approach has been applied to the K9 Martian Rover executive of NASA.