Industrialising formal methods for telecommunications

Abstract

Over last ten years there has been a growing amount of interest in the use of mathematically formal methods for software development. This is particularly so in the area of specification, where there is now a selection of languages which can be used to construct system specifications over a wide range of applications.

Although the potential advantages of formal methods have been widely reported, their use to date in commercial situations has been somewhat limited. The effective transfer of a new technology, like formal methods, into industry is a complex affair which is not solved at a stroke. All new technologies are required not only to be effective, but also to solve a perceived problem and to be acceptable to their intended users. The views of practicing telecommunication system designers are therefore vital to their introduction and exploitation in this area.

This paper describes the way in which a strategy for the industrialisation of formal methods has been evolved. The first part of the process, described below, is concerned with the collection of user views on the suitability for purpose of formal methods. From this information the key advances required to overcome the perceived barriers to the selection and use of formal methods in the telecommunications industry are derived.