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

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.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Using Discrete-Event Simulation to Address the Probe Effect in Software Testing of Real-Time Distributed Systems' with ISBN 9781423556640 and ISBN 142355664X.