A Systematic Review of Software Reliability and Software Cost Models

Abstract

Software reliability assessment is important to evaluate and predict the reliability and performance of software system. The models applicable to the assessment of software reliability are called Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs). An SRGM provides a mathematical relationship between time span of testing or using the software and the cumulative number of faults detected. It is used to assess the reliability of the software during testing and operational phases. An important class of SRGM that has been widely studied is Non Homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP). NHPP models are useful in describing failure processes, providing trends such as reliability growth and fault-content. Different NHPP models have been developed for different applications. In this paper, we described several existing software reliability growth models based on Non Homogeneous Poisson processes (NHPPs). This paper also addresses cost estimation models and cost functions that can be used to evaluate the cost of software during its development.

Keywords: Software Engineering; Software Reliability; SRGM; NHPP; MVF.