A Software Reliability Model Based on a Geometric Sequence of Failure Rates

Abstract: Software reliability models are an important tool in quality management and release planning. There is a large number of different models that often exhibit strengths in different areas. This paper proposes a model that is based on a geometric sequence (or progression) of the failure rates of faults. This property of the failure process was observed in practice at Siemens among others and led to the development of the proposed model. It is described in detail and evaluated using standard criteria. Most importantly, the model performs constantly well over several projects in terms of its predictive validity.