Analyzing a space-protocol: from specification, simulation to experimentation

Abstract : The space industry demands that software components, like the others, draw near the "zero-default" quality. It is now acknowledged that fulfilling this goal for complex programs like distributed applications or communication protocols, requires the use of formal specifications and of computer-aided verification tools. This paper describes an evaluation led by the aerospace company Matra-Marconi-Space in cooperation with Irisa (an academic research center) on the interest and suitability of formal methods and related technologies in this context. This evaluation involves an actual Matra-Marconi-Space specific space protocol (SDM+), the use of formal methods based on the FDT Estelle, and an experimentation tool called Echidna (made at Irisa) to simulate and prototype protocols on real distributed systems. We describe here this evaluation process along with the main conclusions we drew on it.