Modelling of NHPP Based Software Reliability Growth Model from the Perspective of Testing Coverage, Error Propagation and Fault Withdrawal Efficiency

Abstract

This paper presents a software reliability growth model framework modeled from a non-homogenous poisson process (NHPP). Invariably, software testing continues to be a paramount measure for validating the standard of software. Test coverage measures appraise and estimate the proportion and gradation of testing in software. Therefore, presenting a correct picture of the test coverage becomes a prime requisite to guarantee software reliability. As an enhancement over the existing models, the proposed model integrates testing coverage (TC), error propagation, and fault withdrawal efficiency while keeping the number of parameters restrained to make the framework more reliable for parameter estimation. A relative analysis to assess the efficacy of the proposed model and some existing models has been carried out on the failure data obtained from three real-world software applications using six comparison criteria. Finally, the weighted criteria rank method has been used to rank the models and assess their performance. In addition, sensitivity analysis has been carried out to demonstrate the effect of the parameters of the proposed model on the mean value function.