Testing the Heathrow Terminal 5 Baggage Handling System (Before It Is Built)

London Heathrow Terminal 5 will open in March 2008. This new terminal will handle 30 million passengers a year, and all of these passengers will expect their baggage to accompany them on their flights. To achieve this end, a new baggage handling system is being built that will handle more than 100,000 bags a day. The challenge of testing the integrated software is related not only to its size and complexity but also to the limited time that will be available to test the software in its actual environment. Roger Derksen explains the vital role of factory integration testing using models that emulate the full system. Roger discusses the limitations of these techniques and explains what can-and cannot-be done in the factory environment and what issues still must be addressed on site.

• A testing strategy for use on very large, complex systems
• How to use models for testing when physical systems are unavailable
• Advantages and disadvantages of these testing techniques