A Method for Selecting a Model to Estimate the Reliability of a Software Component in a Dynamic System

Abstract

A dynamic system such as a mobile telecommunication system often still have bugs when used in the field. Test engineers hence need to have a good amount of confidence that its software components have attained a certain level of reliability before such a system is released to a customer for operational uses. Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs) are useful for estimating the reliability of a software component for quality control and testing purposes. However, due to the availability of a huge number of SRGMs based on the Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP), it is very difficult to know which one is the most suitable for a certain software system. The traditional model selection methods conspicuously omit a well defined and verified mechanism to identify suitable NHPP-based SRGMs which are capable of addressing the requirements necessary for testing and debugging a software component of a dynamic system. In this paper, we present a method for selecting the most suitable software reliability model to estimate the reliability of a software component in a dynamic system. Our method is based on model selection criteria and the use of a unification scheme. A software component in the Wireless Network Switching Centre (WNSC) is used as a case study to illustrate the usefulness of our method in a dynamic system.