On a Multivalued Test Sequencing Problem

Test sequencing is a binary identification problem where one needs to develop a minimal expected cost test procedure to determine which one of a finite number of possible failure states is present. In this paper, we consider a multivalued test sequencing (MVTS) problem, in which a test may have an arbitrary number of possible outcomes denoting different behaviors. The multivalued test sequencing problem can be solved through multivalued dynamic programming (MVDP). This method can find the optimal test sequence, but the time and space is large. In order to deal with this problem, we propose multivalued AO* algorithm, called MVAO*, based on multivalued heuristic evaluation function (MVHEF) in the AO*. With one example we demonstrate that MVAO* is efficient and effective for optimizing test sequence problem with multiple test responses.