Integrated energy-directed test suite optimization

Abstract

In situ testing techniques have become an important means of ensuring the reliability of embedded systems after they are deployed in the field. However, these techniques do not help testers optimize the energy consumption of their in situ test suites, which can needlessly waste the limited battery power of these systems. In this work, we extend prior techniques for test suite minimization in such a way as to allow testers to generate energy-efficient, minimized test suites with only minimal modifications to their existing work flow. We perform an extensive empirical evaluation of our approach using the test suites provided for real world applications. The results of the evaluation show that our technique is effective at generating, in less than one second, test suites that consume up to 95% less energy while maintaining coverage of the testing requirements.