Abstract:

During the last ten years, validation technology has developed from being a research topic to a practical method of finding errors in complex distributed system and is now available as part of several, commercially available software development tools. The formal validation of system specifications is accepted by equipment manufacturers as a significant means of avoiding the costs of design error.

Validation is the collection of appropriate methods, procedures and tools used to evaluate that a specification:

• satisfies the purpose expressed in the record of requirements on which the standard is based;
• can be fully implemented;
• when implemented, is able to offer all the functionality and performance expressed in the record of requirements of the standard it is based on;
• conforms to the established criteria for standards.