Property-oriented testing: a strategy for exploring dangerous scenarios

Property-oriented testing uses the specification of a property to drive the testing process. The aim is to validate a program with respect to a target property, that is, to exercise the program and observe whether the property is violated or not. The paper defines a test strategy for safety properties in cyclic control systems. It consists of the stepwise construction of test scenarios. Each step explores possible continuations of the dangerous scenarios found at the previous step, using black-box sampling techniques. The feasibility of the strategy is illustrated on a stem boiler case study. The target property is the "non explosion" of the boiler in presence of faults in the physical devices. The experimental results are promising since four different explosive scenarios have been identified.