Aggressive Test Cost Reductions through Continuous Test Effectiveness Assessment

The inclusion of various new test types in production test suites with the hope of keeping defect escape level in check continuously increases the test cost while the economics of the intensely competitive consumer marketplace dictates test strategies that are low cost yet still effective in defect detection. An adaptive test methodology is proposed in this paper to address the simultaneous demand for efficiency and effectiveness in testing through an adaptive prioritization of test vectors according to defect detection effectiveness, subsequently leading to the identification of a compact yet effective test set. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the vector prioritization process and show substantial cost reduction levels.