Using Discrete-Event Simulation to Address the Probe Effect in Software Testing of Real-Time Distributed Systems

Abstract

The term probe effect denotes behavioral changes caused by introducing delays into a concurrent program with synchronization errors. This thesis investigates the feasibility of developing discrete-event simula- tion (DES) models of software architectures to perform software testing free of the probe effect. A message-passing subsystem (MPS) and simulated MPS (SMPS) were developed in Java that runs with the same application code. An MPS platform-performance model (MPPM) was developed using dual-loop benchmarking and was integrated into the SMPS. Two demonstration programs were developed to study SMPS timing and its model of a preemptive multi-threaded run-time system. The SMPS-based program behavior was compared to hypothetical execution on a platform with a perfect system clock and no execution overhead. The differences between hypothetical and observed SMPS-based execution were found to correctly reflect the MPPM. The results indicated that it is feasible to develop DES implementations of some software architectures to perform software testing.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA356089

Entities

People

  • Robert M. Ollerton

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Application Software
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Databases
  • Debugging
  • High Level Languages
  • Object Code
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Simulations
  • Software Design
  • Software Development
  • Software Development Tools
  • Software Testing

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.