A method for assigning a value to a communication protocol test case

One of the main problems in industrial testing is the enormous number of test cases derived from any complex communication protocol. Due to budget constraints and tight schedule, the number of test cases has to be within a certain limit. However, by having a limit on the number of test cases, it raises some issues. For instances, what criteria should be used for selecting the test cases? How can we ensure that important test cases have not been excluded? We are proposing that assigning a value to each of the test cases of a test suite can provide a solution. By doing so, the relative importance of each of the test cases can be ranked and an optimal test suite can then be designed. The value of a test case is to be measured in economic terms, which could be based on the probability that a particular case will occur, and the probability that an error is likely to be uncovered. This paper presents a method for assigning a value to a test case of a communication protocol; it is based on sensitivity analysis, which involves execution, infection and propagation probabilities. To illustrate the method, the results of applying it to the INRES protocol are presented.