Communication mechanism independent protocol specification based on CSP: a case study

Abstract

When specifying and designing computer network protocols, it is convenient to use an abstract synchronous communication mechanism. In practice, however, asynchronous communication mechanisms cannot be avoided. This paper presents a formal approach, based on Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes (1985) and some other theoretical results on the specification and design of protocols which ensure the correctness of the protocols regardless of the communication mechanism used in implementation. The Alternating Bit protocol is used to illustrate our results.