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A New Backtracking Algorithm for Constructing Binary Covering Arrays of Variable Strength

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MICAI 2009: Advances in Artificial Intelligence (MICAI 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5845))

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Abstract

A Covering Array denoted by CA(N;t,k,v) is a matrix of size N ×k, in which each of the v t combinations appears at least once in every t columns. Covering Arrays (CAs) are combinatorial objects used in software testing. There are different methods to construct CAs, but as it is a highly combinatorial problem, few complete algorithms to construct CAs have been reported. In this paper a new backtracking algorithm based on the Branch & Bound technique is presented. It searches only non-isomorphic Covering Arrays to reduce the search space of the problem of constructing them. The results obtained with this algorithm are able to match some of the best known solutions for small instances of binary CAs.

This research was partially funded by the following projects: CONACyT 58554-Cálculo de Covering Arrays, 51623-Fondo Mixto CONACyT y Gobierno del Estado de Tamaulipas.

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Bracho-Rios, J., Torres-Jimenez, J., Rodriguez-Tello, E. (2009). A New Backtracking Algorithm for Constructing Binary Covering Arrays of Variable Strength. In: Aguirre, A.H., Borja, R.M., Garciá, C.A.R. (eds) MICAI 2009: Advances in Artificial Intelligence. MICAI 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5845. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05258-3_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05258-3_35

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05257-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-05258-3

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