Optimisation-based black-box testing of as- sertions in Simulink models

Complicated control systems are used in many safety critical applications, such as in cars and airplanes. Due to the nature of these systems veri cation can be very di cult to do analytically or algorithmically. The only feasible analysis and veri cation method is often simulation. The generation of good test cases that can expose aws in models of the system is, therefore, of great importance. In this paper we investigate the use of optimisation methods for nding such test cases automatically. For this purpose we give a language to express assertions in these systems, as well as a translation of the assertions to a form suitable for optimisation. We also discuss di erent ways to generate the input signals for the system to maximise performance of the optimisation. To evaluate the approach, we provide a case study demonstrating that optimisation methods are bene cial for investigating properties of models of control systems.