title: Integration testing of heterotic systems.
abstract: Computational theory and practice generally focus on single-paradigm systems, but relatively little is known about how best to combine components based on radically different approaches (e.g. silicon chips and wetware) into a single coherent system. In particular, while testing strategies for single-technology artefacts are generally well developed, it is unclear at present how to perform integration testing on heterotic systems: can we develop a test-set generation strategy for checking whether specified behaviours emerge (and unwanted behaviours do not) when components based on radically different technologies are combined within a single system? In this paper, we describe an approach to modelling multi-technology heterotic systems using a general-purpose formal specification strategy based on Eilenberg's X-machine model of computation. We show how this approach can be used to represent disparate technologies within a single framework, and propose a strategy for using these formal models for automatic heterotic test-set generation. We illustrate our approach by showing how to derive a test set for a heterotic system combining an X-machine-based device with a cell-based P system (membrane system).
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK m.stannett@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stannett
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK m.gheorghe@bradford.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gheorghe
keywords: P system; X-machine; heterotic computing; integration testing; membrane system; unconventional computing