Software reliability prediction by soft computing techniques

In this paper, ensemble models are developed to accurately forecast software reliability. Various statistical (multiple linear regression and multivariate adaptive regression splines) and intelligent techniques (backpropagation trained neural network, dynamic evolving neuro–fuzzy inference system and TreeNet) constitute the ensembles presented. Three linear ensembles and one non-linear ensemble are designed and tested. Based on the experiments performed on the software reliability data obtained from literature, it is observed that the non-linear ensemble outperformed all the other ensembles and also the constituent statistical and intelligent techniques. 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.