Hierarchical performance evaluation based on formally specified communication protocols

Combining formal description techniques (FDTs) with performance evaluation (PE) is a requirement known from the `single-specification/multiple-techniques´ approach associated with the protocol engineering vision. The approach presented here assumes that a formally defined open systems interconnection (OSI) communication protocol can be syntactically transformed to a form suitable to a performance evaluation tool, and afterwards enhanced by implementation-dependence information on the protocol´s resource requirements. Such a module, describing functional and performance behavior of the protocol, can then be embedded in a framework which allows its performance evaluation. This framework comprises an OSI-service provider as a transportation medium, processors providing computing services, and means for communication with the adjacent upper layer by use of associated input and output buffers. The present approach uses concepts from the performance evaluation tool HIT. Its applicability to OSI-communication architectures is sketched by means of the PE-modeling language HI-SLANG and the FD-language SDL