Multi-Release Testing coverage-based SRGM considering error generation and change-point incorporating the random effect

Abstract

The most essential step during the development of the software is the testing procedure which makes the software dependable and efficient. During this procedure, the observation and rectification of the faults play a significant role in increasing the reliability of the software. Various Software Reliability growth models (SRGMs) with multiple assumptions were presented by various researchers to study the software’s reliability. It is well known that the fault observation rate may get affected by irregular factors causing arbitrary effects. In this study, we aim to capture this irregular variation in fault observation rate by expressing it in terms of testing coverage. The fault observation/removal process has been assumed as a stochastic process and modeled it using an Itô type of stochastic differential equation. Testing coverage enables software designers to check the software’s excellence and to see if any extra efforts are required to enhance reliability. In this paper, we have developed an SRGM based on testing coverage by introducing the concept of changepoint, error generation, and irregular fluctuations. The error generation implies that during the testing procedure faults are not disclosed entirely and more faults get introduced. Later on, we focused on the idea of multi-release by considering four releases. We have estimated the parameters of the model by using fault dataset for consecutive releases of Tandem Computers and validated the performance by evaluating the goodness-of-fit criteria.