Automated Requirements Validation for ATP Software via Specification Review and Testing

Complete and correct requirements specification is the foundation for developing high-quality Automatic Train Protection (ATP) software. Requirements validation aims at facilitating the completeness and correctness of the specification. In this paper, we propose a novel requirements validation approach combining diagram-guided specification review and scenario-based specification testing for ATP software. The specification is transformed into an executable prototype. Diagrams are generated from the prototype to visualize the interactions between variables for an effective review. To check whether the specification conforms to the user’s concerned scenarios of train operation, the scenarios are specified as test cases for testing the prototype. The conformance is then determined via test analysis. Through the review and the testing, the requirements specification is validated. The case study and experiments show that the approach achieves a higher error detection rate and while it reduces the time costs comparing to the traditional review method used by our industrial partner.

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