Testing Autonomous Control-Based Software Systems

Self-Adaptive software usually comprises the software itself and an adaptation layer, in charge of observing the current execution conditions and reacting to these conditions with changes in the software behavior. The adaptation layer is often realized with control-theoretical techniques, to exploit the large set of guarantees that control-based adaptation provides. Properly testing these systems is a complex problem. First, the control strategy should be verified on its own to assess the formal guarantees that it entails. Second, it should be possible to verify that the introduction of control theory does not influence the behavior of the software in terms of functional properties. Third, the formal guarantees that the control-theoretical adaptation offers should be verified in practice when the controller is connected to the software system. The project proposes the study of testing for self-adaptive software where the adaptation layer is based on control-theoretical principles.