Model-in-the-Loop Testing of a Railway Interlocking System

Model-driven techniques offer new solutions to support development and verification and validation (V&V) activities of software-intensive systems. As they can reduce costs, and ease the certification process as well, they are attractive also in safety-critical domains. We present an approach for Model-in-the-loop testing within an OMG-based model-driven process, aimed at supporting system V&V activities. The approach is based on the definition of a model of the system environment, named Computation Independent Test (CIT) model. The CIT enables various forms of system test, allowing early detection of design faults. We show the benefits of the approach with reference to a pilot project that is part of a railway interlocking system. The system, required to be CEN- ELEC SIL-4 compliant, has been provided by the Hungarian company Prolan Co. in the context of an industrial-academic partnership.