Software Reliability Analysis of Three Successive Generations of a Switching System

Most current approaches to software reliability evaluation are based on data collected on a single generation of products. However, many applications are developed through improvements of the existing software: to the families of products are added various generations as the need for new functionalities arises. Experimental studies dealing with the analysis of data collected on families of products are seldom reported. In this paper, we analyze the data (failure and correction reports) collected on the software of three successive generations of the Brazilian Switching System — TROPICO-R, during validation and operation. A comparative analysis of the three products is done and the main results are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of the software and the corresponding failures and corrected faults. The analysis addresses: i) the modifications introduced on system components, ii) the distribution of failures and corrected faults in the components and the functions fulfilled by the system, and iii) the evolution of the failure intensity functions.