Unlike for conventional compilers for imperative programming languages such as C or ADA, no established methods for safeguarding artifacts generated by model-based code generators exist despite progress in the field of formal verification. Several test approaches dominate the engineering practice. This paper describes a general and tool-independent test architecture for code generators used in model-based development. We evaluate the effectiveness of our test approach by means of testing optimizations performed by the TargetLink code generator, a widely accepted and complex development tool used in automotive model-based development.

Mathematical modeling, which already is established for a long time in many engineering domains, now also gains strongly in importance in the development of embedded software. In the automotive sector (Schauffele and Zurawka, 2003), modeling is used on the one hand for the conceptual anticipation of the functionality to be realized (open/closed loop control, monitoring) and, on the other, for the simulation of the behavior of real physical systems (plant, environment)