A novel approach to protocol test sequence generation

A novel approach for test sequence generation based on the constraints satisfaction problem (CSP) in artificial intelligence is proposed. The proposed method constructs a unique test sequence for the entire finite state machine (FSM) by incrementally generating a set of test subsequences which represent the constraints imposed on the overall structure of the FSM. The resulting test sequence not only has a fault coverage which is at least as good as that provided by current methods, but it also has a better worst-case upper bound on its length. The method also lends itself naturally on both test result analysis and fault coverage measurement