A bounded incremental test generation algorithm for finite state machines

We propose a bounded incremental algorithm to generate test cases for deterministic finite state machine models. Our approach, in contrast to the traditional view, is based on the observation that system specifications are in most cases modified incrementally in practice as requirements evolve. We utilize an existing test set available for a previous version of the system to efficiently generate tests for the current - modified - system. We use a widely accepted framework to evaluate the complexity of the proposed incremental algorithm, and show that it is a function of the size of the change in the specification rather than the size of the specification itself. Thus, the method is very efficient in the case of small changes, and never performs worse than the relevant traditional algorithm - the HIS-method. We also demonstrate our algorithm through an example.