Specification based formal testing: the EasyLink case study

Testing is, in most cases, a manual activity that is time consuming and error prone. Automation, however, can severely reduce the associated costs. In the project Cote de Resyste (COnformance TEsting of REactive SYSTEms) theory is being developed and a protoype tool is being built to support the automatic test generation and execution from formal specifications for reactive systems such as communication protocols and embedded system software [14]. Industrial case studies are carried out by industrial partners to evaluate the theory and tools in practice, to identify potential bottlenecks and to suggest improvements. In this paper we describe our experiences with one of such case studies, the EasyLink case study. In this case study Audio/Video (AV) devices are automatically tested for compliance to the EasyLink standard. The purpose of this case study is to check the viability of the theory and the tools developed in project by applying them in an industrial setting. This paper discusses how the case study led to theoretical developments and tool improvements, and in that way provided valuable feedback that was used to guide the future direction of the project.