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A formal analysis of MCDC and RCDC test criteria
Author(s) -
Kapoor Kalpesh,
Bowen Jonathan P.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
software testing, verification and reliability
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1099-1689
pISSN - 0960-0833
DOI - 10.1002/stvr.306
Subject(s) - computer science , avionics , reliability engineering , contrast (vision) , code coverage , fault detection and isolation , test (biology) , probabilistic logic , model checking , software , data mining , algorithm , programming language , artificial intelligence , engineering , paleontology , actuator , biology , aerospace engineering
The Modified Condition Decision Coverage (MCDC) test criterion is a mandatory requirement for the testing of avionics software as per the DO‐178B standard. This paper presents a formal analysis for the three different forms of MCDC. In addition, a recently proposed test criterion, Reinforced Condition Decision Coverage (RCDC), has also been investigated in comparison with MCDC. In contrast with the earlier analysis approaches that have been based on empirical and probabilistic models, the principles of Boolean ogic are used here to study the fault detection effectiveness of the MCDC and RCDC criteria. Based on the properties of Boolean specifications, the analysis identifies the detection conditions for six kinds of faults. The results allow the measurement of the effort required in testing and the effectiveness of generated test sets satisfying the MCDC and RCDC criteria. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.