Verification of FlexRay using directed and coverage-based testing – A comparison

Abstract:
Verification of system behavior by testing is one component to prevent systematic errors and thus improve the system reliability. FlexRay, a fault-tolerant, distributed communication protocol for automotive use in safetyrelevant applications, constitutes such a reliable albeit complex system. We describe a coverage-based constrained-random testing approach employing a fully functional reference model, its use to test a FlexRay controller, and compare it with an independently developed directed test approach. Using the errors uniquely found by each approach, we show that the random approach outperforms the directed one resulting in less undetected errors for the cost of a higher error handling effort.