Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach for Model-Based Testing of Product Lines

TL;DR

This paper introduces two approaches combining feature modeling and model-based testing to improve quality assurance in complex product line systems, addressing challenges in requirements engineering and test design.

Contribution

It presents novel methods to integrate feature modeling with model-based testing for product lines, filling a gap in existing research.

Findings

Enhanced testing efficiency for product lines

Identification of key integration challenges

Proposed solutions improve testing process

Abstract

Systems tend to become more and more complex. This has a direct impact on system engineering processes. Two of the most important phases in these processes are requirements engineering and quality assurance. Two significant complexity drivers located in these phases are the growing number of product variants that have to be integrated into the requirements engineering and the ever growing effort for manual test design. There are modeling techniques to deal with both complexity drivers like, e.g., feature modeling and model-based test design. Their combination, however, has been seldom the focus of investigation. In this paper, we present two approaches to combine feature modeling and model-based testing as an efficient quality assurance technique for product lines. We present the corresponding difficulties and approaches to overcome them. All explanations are supported by an example of an online shop product line.