Virtual Bookstore Citation Title USING DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION TO ADDRESS THE PROBE EFFECT IN SOFTWARE TESTING OF REAL-TIME DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS Author(s) Ollerton, Robert M. Corporate Author(s) NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA Report Date 9/1/1998 Page Count 111 Abstract The term probe effect denotes behavioral changes caused by introducing delays into a concurrent program with synchronization errors. This thesis investigates the feasibility of developing discrete-event simula- tion (DES) models of software architectures to perform software testing free of the probe effect. A message-passing subsystem (MPS) and simulated MPS (SMPS) were developed in Java that runs with the same application code. An MPS platform- performance model (MPPM) was developed using dual-loop benchmarking and was integrated into the SMPS. Two demonstration programs were developed to study SMPS timing and its model of a preemptive multi-threaded run-time system. The SMPS-based program behavior was compared to hypothetical execution on a platform with a perfect system clock and no execution overhead. The differences between hypothetical and observed SMPS-based execution were found to correctly reflect the MPPM. The results indicated that it is feasible to develop DES implementations of some software architectures to perform software testing. Price: $9.95 Available as PDF for download.   Prices are plus sales tax when purchased within New York State and shipping charges, if applicable