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Communication protocol design to facilitate re‐use based on the object‐oriented paradigm

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Abstract

The main motivation for the present work stems from the wide gap which exists between the research efforts devoted to developing formal descriptions for communication protocols and the effective development methodologies used in industrial implementations. We apply Object-Oriented (OO) modelling principles to networking protocols, exploring the potential for producing re-useable software modules by discovering the underlying generic class structures and behaviour. Petri Nets (PNs) are used to derive re-useable model elements and a slightly modified TTCN notation is used for message sequence encoding. This demonstrates a formal, practical approach to the development of a protocol implementation through OO modelling. Our utilisation of PNs in the context of object based modelling allows for isolation of the behavioural characterisation of objects into a separate design plane, treated as a meta-level object control. This separation permits greater execution flexibility of the underlying object models. It is that very aspect of our modelling approach which can be utilised in software implementations where dynamically determined ‘re-programming’ (i.e., change of procedures) is needed. For example, one of the requirements in wireless networking software is the ability to cope with ever-changing transmission/reception conditions and that, in turn, creates greatly varying error rates. Similarly, handoff procedures create situations where dynamically determined change of operational modes is required. To illustrate the modelling concepts, the paper addresses the problem of inter-layer communication among multiple protocol entities (PEs), assuming the standard ISO/OSI Reference Model. A generalised model called the Inter-Layer Communication (ILC) Model is proposed. An example of a PE based on the Alternating-Bit Protocol (ABP) is also discussed. The final example demonstrates how meta-level object control (PNs) allows for the dynamic selection of different ARQ based algorithms.

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  1. School of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, La Trobe University, Victoria, 3083, Australia

    Andrew A. Hanish & Tharam S. Dillon

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  1. Andrew A. Hanish
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  2. Tharam S. Dillon
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Hanish, A.A., Dillon, T.S. Communication protocol design to facilitate re‐use based on the object‐oriented paradigm. Mobile Networks and Applications 2, 285–301 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013697003764

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