Development of a Simulator for Testing Software Systems Working with a Binary Protocol

Abstract

In this article, the development of a software system—a simulator for testing software systems using a binary protocol—is proposed. The purpose of the development is to achieve full testing of a wide class of software systems. They are directly related to the management of hardware systems, with which communication is based on a binary protocol. The developed simulator allows different types of messages to be simulated during real communication. In this way, it is possible to check how a given program system would react to correct and incorrect messages in the communication stage. This article presents a GUI system developed in the standard C++ programming language and the Qt platform, which makes it platform-independent. The system provides the ability to select preset commands via an external file or enter/correct commands in real-time. The commands may be different depending on the integration scope of the binary protocol. The connection between the developed simulator and the tested system is through RS 232 interface. Configuring settings and testing binary protocols through the developed application becomes fast and intuitive.

Keywords

• binary protocol
• communication protocols
• program systems
• simulator
• simulation