Stopping rules and estimation for recapture debugging with unequal failure rates

Abstract

SUMMARY A theoretical optimal stopping rule based on the minimization of the testing cost and expected penalty due to the unremoved bugs is derived without the equal failure rate assumption under Nayak's (1988) recapture debugging procedure. Two adaptive stopping rules suitable for practical use are constructed and tested by simulation. The estimation of the number of undetected bugs is also considered via remaining failure rate estimation.