A user friendly software environment for protocol synthesis

An attempt is made to design a user-friendly software environment for protocol synthesis based on the FSM (finite state machine), and to show the validity of applying AI (artificial intelligence) techniques to the construction of such a system. For that purpose, the authors have first designed a user-friendly software environment, named SEPS, using the programming language C, which belongs to the procedural programming paradigm. The aim of SEPS is to help a protocol designer to easily design a protocol and avoid logical errors like unspecified receptions and state deadlocks. In order to enhance the productivity of protocol development, a user-friendly interface has been designed which employs the multiwindow mechanism and provides the graphic tools in this system. Consequently, a protocol designer without any experience in protocol synthesis can easily design a protocol without logical errors. The authors have also designed a knowledge-based software environment for protocol synthesis, named KSPS, using the expert system tool OPS83. KSPS has the same functions as SEPS. The advantages of KSPS over SEPS in terms of extension, modification, and maintenance of protocol development systems are shown.<>