Communication system generator on layered communicating finite state machine

According to the seven-layer OSI (Open System Interconnection) reference model, a communication system can be logically decomposed into layers, each responsible for a specific set of protocol entities. Many approaches have been proposed for the formal specification, validation, and implementation of protocol entities. However, approaches are still lacking for communication systems because the inter-layer synchronization is not clearly defined. This paper presents an approach for automatic communication system development and discusses a semiautomatic implementation of a real-word communication system. We first give a generalized communication system framework (GCSF), which is a universal environment for various communication systems. We then introduce a layered communicating finite state machine (L-CFSM) to specify communication systems. Given an L-CFSM, a communication system generator can automatically produce an executable communication system, based upon the GCSF. The communication system generator is a process of developing communication systems. We have implemented a communication system generator on DOS and UNIX enviornments, in which a communication system with several real-word protocols from DoD and IEEE 802 protocol standards organizations has been sucessfully developed. © 1992 IEEE.