A flexible distributed software architecture for embedded network diagnostics

The authors provide insight into the functional requirements of embedded intelligent network diagnostic and test access equipment at the DS3 transmission rate (45 MHz) and detail a forward-looking adaptive software architecture to fulfil these and other future network requirements. It is pointed out that the new lightwave technology realized in the telephone network demands that the software controlling an ITAU (integrated transport access unit) be ever increasingly sophisticated while remaining cost effective and adaptive for future unknown system requirements and future products. Utilizing the proper techniques during the earliest phases of the software architecture design greatly enhances the forward-looking adaptive characteristics of the end product, while aiding in cutting the software development and maintenance costs that are inevitably encountered