A New Methodology and Tool Set to Execute Software Test on Real-Time Safety-Critical Systems

Abstract

CENELEC norms identify four testing phases for the verification and validation of real-time safety-critical software for railway control and protection systems (Module, Integration, Hardware/Software Integration and System testing). The RAMS team of Ansaldo Segnalamento Ferroviario (ASF) designed a methodology that allows executing simultaneously these four phases, also allowing performing code coverage measurements. Several proprietary tools are needed to apply this methodology to perform test directly on the target system and to record coverage measures during normal operation, with negligible intrusion in system performances. The commercial tools do not allow test execution on real prototypes without affecting performances. The proposed tool set will aid the test engineer from the test specification to the results checking, including the test documentation, regression analysis and reports archiving. By using this environment, the application of the methodology will be optimized, and the verification and validation process will be managed in a harmonized and standardized way.