Test case prioritization for embedded software

Abstract

Electronic devices used daily contain software, which may have errors due to human factors during coding. Testing is essential before release, especially as software complexity increases with diverse user needs. Testing new features separately and then in combination multiplies test cases. Rerunning all tests after each change is costly. The aim of this study is to develop a test case prioritization method to decrease the time to find software errors in embedded software systems. For this purpose, we extracted the basic features that characterize embedded software systems and tests that run on them. The proposed method calculates prioritization scores for test cases utilizing these characteristics. The test cases will then be arranged in a systematic manner according to their respective scores. This prioritization strategy is designed to minimize error detection time by promptly finding and resolving errors throughout the initial stages of the testing process. The proposed prioritization strategy was tested on an embedded software system, and it was evaluated using the metrics APFD (average percentage of faults detected) and APFDc (APFD with cost). The results indicate that the proposed method based on the attributes of software systems and related tests reduces the time required to find the majority of the errors.