Efficient test sequence generation for localization of multiple faults in communication protocols

Conformance test for communication protocols is indispensable for the production of reliable communications software. A lot of conformance test techniques have been developed. However, most of them can only decide whether an implemented protocol conforms to its specification. That is, the exact locations of faults are not determined by them. This paper presents some conditions that enable to find location of multiple faults, and then proposes a test sequence generation technique under such conditions. The characteristics of this technique are to generate test sequences based on protocol specifications and interim test results, and to find locations of multiple faults in protocol implementations. Although the length of the test sequence generated by the proposed technique is a little longer than the one generated by the previous one, the class to which the proposed technique can be applied is larger than that to which the previous one can be applied