On optimizing test sequence generation for communicating systems

The authors present a method to derive an optimal testing sequence from Extended Calculus for Communicating Systems (ECCS) specifications. The method is based on the theory of experiments which deals with the idea of defining a characterization set for each state of the protocol under test. The authors propose a definition of the characterization set tailored for ECCS processes and present algorithms to derive a less time-consuming characterization set for recognizing that the system under test is in a given state. Two main problems are considered in the formal approach to protocol testing: one deals with a faster testing session; the second deals with less time-consuming computation methods to derive the sequences to be used in the optimal testing session. The authors first justify the importance of the optimization problem and then present a solution by using ECCS as a formal description technique