Verification and testing

Abstract

The Provision of Verification (PROVE) project, as part of the overall RACE programme, covered a wide range of verification topics, from hardware access test tools to methodology studies on various aspects of testing broadband networks. This paper describes briefly all the project's activities but focuses principally on the work on a 'computer aided test generation' methodology, resulting in a methodology for the semi-automatic generation of test from the formal notation SDL. The methodology deals with the main problems associated with this field of work, namely the containment of tests to a finite number and expressing the tests in a recognised notation. This reduction and selection is achieved through the use of operator-defined controls, and the tests are produced in the standard test notation TTCN. To verify the work, prototype tools were developed for experimentation with test generation from protocol specifications. The PROVE project has been successful in all areas, delivering real test equipment to the RACE programme and producing methodologies that have advanced the state of the art in testing.