Developing a TTCN-3 test harness for legacy software

Abstract

We describe a prototype test harness for an embedded system which is the control software for a modern marine diesel engine. The operations of such control software requires complete certification. We adopt Testing and Test Control Notation (TTCN-3) to define test cases for this purpose. The main challenge in developing the test harness is to interface a generic test driver to the legacy software and provide a suitable interface for test engineers. The main contribution of this paper is a demonstration of a suitable design for such a test harness. It includes: a TTCN-3 test driver in C++, the legacy control software in C, a Graphical User Interface (GUI)and the connectors in Java. Our experience shows that it is feasible to use TTCN-3 in developing a test harness for a legacy software for an embedded system, even when it involves different heterogeneous components.