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Formal Model Validation Through Acceptance Tests

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Reliability, Safety, and Security of Railway Systems. Modelling, Analysis, Verification, and Certification (RSSRail 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 11495))

Abstract

When formal systems modelling is used as part of the development process, modellers need to understand the requirements in order to create appropriate models, and domain experts need to validate the final models to ensure they fit the needs of stakeholders. A suitable mechanism for such a validation are acceptance tests.

In this paper we discuss how the principles of Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) can be applied to (i) formal modelling and (ii) validation of behaviour specifications, thus coupling those two tasks. We show how to close the gap between the informal domain specification and the formal model, thus enabling the domain expert to write acceptance tests in a high-level language matching the formal specification.

We analyse the applicability of this approach by providing the Gherkin scenarios for an formal model of a ‘fixed virtual block’ approach to train movement control, developed according to the Hybrid ERTMS/ETCS Level 3 principles specified by the EEIG ERTMS Users Group and presented as a case study on the 6. International ABZ Conference 2018.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ensuring that the developers build the thing right.

  2. 2.

    Ensuring that the developers build the right thing.

  3. 3.

    Trains may or may not be specially equipped with the necessary equipment, hence the term hybrid.

  4. 4.

    Please note that the provided example is only a snippet of an end-to-end test scenario, which checks the functionality from the end user’s perspective.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been conducted within the ENABLE-S3 project that has received funding from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking under Grant Agreement no. 692455. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s HORIZON 2020 research and innovation programme and Austria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Belgium, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Norway.

ENABLE-S3 is funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) under the program “ICT of the Future” between May 2016 and April 2019. More information https://iktderzukunft.at/en/.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thales Austria GmbH, Vienna, Austria

    Tomas Fischer

  2. ECS, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Dana Dghyam

Authors
  1. Tomas Fischer
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  2. Dana Dghyam
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Correspondence to Tomas Fischer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire IFSTTAR/ESTAS, Villeneuve d’Ascq , France

    Simon Collart-Dutilleul

  2. ClearSy, Aix en Provence, France

    Thierry Lecomte

  3. Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

    Alexander Romanovsky

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Fischer, T., Dghyam, D. (2019). Formal Model Validation Through Acceptance Tests. In: Collart-Dutilleul, S., Lecomte, T., Romanovsky, A. (eds) Reliability, Safety, and Security of Railway Systems. Modelling, Analysis, Verification, and Certification. RSSRail 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11495. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18744-6_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18744-6_10

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18743-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18744-6

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