The contents of the latest issue of: International Journal of Embedded and Real-Time Communication Systems (IJERTCS) Official Publication of the Information Resources Management Association Volume 2, Issue 2, April-June 2011 Published: Quarterly in Print and Electronically ISSN: 1947-3176 EISSN: 1947-3184 Published by IGI Publishing, Hershey-New York, USA www.igi-global.com/ijertcs Editor-in-Chief: Seppo Virtanen, University of Turku, Finland GUEST EDITORIAL PREFACE Ina Schieferdecker, TU Berlin/Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany Colin Willcock, Nokia Siemens Networks, Germany Dragos Truscan, Åbo Akademi University, Finland To view the editorial preface, please click on the link below. http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/titledetails.aspx?titleid=47901&detailstype=contents PAPER ONE Requirements Traceability within Model-Based Testing: Applying Path Fragments and Temporal Logic Vanessa Grosch (University of Ulm, Germany) Requirements traceability enables the linkage between all development artifacts during the development process. Within model-based testing, requirements traceability links the original requirements with test model elements and generated test cases. Current approaches are either not practical or lack the necessary formal foundation for generating requirements-based test cases using model-checking techniques involving the requirements trace. This paper describes a practical and formal approach to ensure requirements traceability. The descriptions of the requirements are defined on path fragments of timed automata or timed state charts. The graphical representation of these paths is called a computation sequence chart (CSC). CSCs are automatically transformed into temporal logic formulae. A model-checking algorithm considers these formulae when generating test cases. To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below. http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/article.aspx?titleid=54246 PAPER TWO Model-Based Testing of Highly Configurable Embedded Systems in the Automation Domain Detlef Streitferdt (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany), Florian Kantz (ABB Corporate Research, Germany), Philipp Nenninger (ABB Corporate Research, Germany), Thomas Ruschival (ABB Corporate Research, Germany), Holger Kaul (ABB Corporate Research, Germany), Thomas Bauer (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany), Tanvir Hussain (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany), and Robert Eschbach (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany) This article reports the results of an industrial case study demonstrating the efficacy of a model-based testing process in assuring the quality of highly configurable systems from the automation domain. Escalating demand for flexibility has made modern embedded software systems highly configurable. This configurability is often realized through parameters and a highly configurable system possesses a handful of those. Small changes in parameter values can account for significant changes in the system’s behavior, whereas in other cases, changed parameters may not result in any perceivable reaction. This case study addresses the challenge of applying model-based testing to configurable embedded software systems to reduce development effort. As a result of the case study, a model-based testing process was developed and tailored toward the needs of the automation domain. This process integrates existing model-based testing methods and tools, such as combinatorial design and constraint processing. The testing process was applied as part of the case study and analyzed in terms of its actual saving potentials, which reduced the testing effort by more than a third. To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below. http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/article.aspx?titleid=54247 PAPER THREE Adoption of Model-Based Testing and Abstract Interpretation by a Railway Signalling Manufacturer Alessio Ferrari (University of Florence, D.S.I., Italy), Gianluca Magnani (General Electric Transportation Systems, Italy), Daniele Grasso (General Electric Transportation Systems, Italy), Alessandro Fantechi (University of Florence, D.S.I., Italy), and Matteo Tempestini (General Electric Transportation Systems, Italy) Introduction of formal model-based practices into the development process of a product in a company implicates changes in the verification and validation activities. A testing process that focuses only on code is not comprehensive in a framework where the building blocks of development are models, and industry is currently heading toward more effective strategies to cope with this new reality. This paper reports the experience of a railway signalling manufacturer in changing its unit level verification process from code-based testing to a two-step approach comprising model-based testing and abstract interpretation. Empirical results on different projects, on which the overall development process was progressively tuned, show that the change paid back in terms of verification cost reduction (about 70%), bug detection, and correction capability. To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below. http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/article.aspx?titleid=54248 ***************************************************** For full copies of the above articles, check for this issue of the International Journal of Embedded and Real-Time Communication Systems (IJERTCS) in your institution's library. This journal is also included in the IGI Global aggregated "InfoSci-Journals" database: http://www.igi-global.com/EResources/InfoSciJournals.aspx. ***************************************************** CALL FOR PAPERS Mission of IJERTCS: The mission of the International Journal of Embedded and Real-Time Communication Systems (IJERTCS) is to disseminate recent advancements and innovations in this interdisciplinary research area for field researchers, practitioners, scientists, academicians, students, and IT professionals. IJERTCS focuses on overcoming challenges involved in the rapid development of embedded communication systems towards feature-rich multimedia computers Coverage of IJERTCS: The International Journal of Embedded and Real-Time Communication Systems (IJERTCS) extensively covers research in the area of embedded and real-time communication systems. Within this field, topics to be discussed in the journal include (but are not limited to) the following: Asynchronous and synchronous circuit techniques Design methods Embedded networks (built-in networks in embedded communication devices) Emerging new topics Fault-tolerant hardware and software technologies Formal design and verification methods Hardware and software solutions for protocol processing Hardware and software solutions for real-time systems Hardware platforms and technologies Hardware/software co-design Modeling and verification methods On-chip communication in SoC and NoC OWA (open wireless architecture) Performance modeling Platform based design Real-time computing Reconfigurable systems Security issues and technologies Single-chip SDR (software defined radio) solutions Software design Testing techniques Interested authors should consult the journal's manuscript submission guidelines at www.igi-global.com/ijertcs All inquiries and submissions should be sent to: Editor-in-Chief: Seppo Virtanen at seppo.virtanen@utu.fi