The design and implementation of workflow engine for spacecraft automatic testing

Spacecraft software automatic testing plays an essential role in spacecraft testing field for a decade. However, less attention has been paid on it based on workflow methodology. In this paper we introduce workflow technology into testing for improving the automation of spacecraft software testing. Firstly we present a spacecraft testing process definition language STPDL. Then workflow patterns framework is proposed for analyzing the language. In addition, we implement a core scheduling algorithm in our workflow engine and analyze its running time. At the end of the paper we evaluate the effect and efficiency of the testing workflow engine. © 2011 ACADEMY PUBLISHER.