External communication with SDL Systems

Abstract

The formal description technique specification and description language (SDL) is used for the documentation and verification of complex distributed communication systems. SDL tools are able to transform a specification automatically to a prototype implementation or even to a software product. The generated program is not isolated in a real system environment. However, the communication aspect with a system environment is not standardized. Hence, there are only tool specific solutions. With the standardization of the interface description techniques—for example, abstract syntax notation (ASN).1 and interface description language (IDL), and even the combination of SDL with these techniques—the external communication aspect of SDL should be investigated. This chapter discusses scenarios with different start points; some of them are applied within an industrial software project. Further work is necessary to integrate SDL with these infrastructures, while at the same time maintaining the high abstraction level of SDL.