Generation of pairwise test sets using a simulated bee colony algorithm

Pairwise testing is a combinatorial technique used to reduce the number of test case inputs to a system in situations where exhaustive testing with all possible inputs is not feasible. The generation of pairwise test sets with a minimal size is an NP-complete problem and several deterministic algorithms have been published. This paper presents the results of generating pairwise test sets using a simulated bee colony algorithm. Compared to published results for seven benchmark problems, the simulated bee colony approach produced test sets which were comparable or better in terms of size for all seven problems. However, the simulated bee colony approach required significantly longer generation time than deterministic approaches in all cases. The results demonstrate that the generation of pairwise test sets using a simulated bee colony algorithm is possible, and suggest that the approach may be useful in testing scenarios where pairwise test set data will be reused.