Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Protocol Syntax Development Using Domain Specific Modeling Languages

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
System Analysis and Modeling. Languages, Methods, and Tools for Industry 4.0 (SAM 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 11753))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 646 Accesses

Abstract

Traditionally telecommunication protocols were developed by the use of the ITU languages such as SDL, ASN.1, and ECN. Recently, many parts of protocols are more and more being developed using model-driven development tools such as UML. However, in these cases, the syntax of protocol needs to be developed in separate tools creating issues of interfacing, integration, and maintenance. Additionally, the majority of today protocols are developed in a way that formal ASN.1 specifications of its syntax are not provided.

This paper presents domain-specific modeling language (DSML) used for the specification and development of syntax for a family of Diameter protocols. We are proposing the use of dedicated DSML tools for the protocols or family of protocols and its integration with the rest of the protocol development tool chain. Creating a protocol family-specific DSML enables more efficient development of protocol syntax since developers use the syntax for describing protocols that are very close to the notation used in protocol specification documents, exploit semi-automatic importers from informal formats and benefit from developed integration with UML and SDL languages.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. 3GPP: Evolved Packet System (EPS); Mobility Management Entity (MME) and Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) related interfaces based on Diameter protocol (2019). https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3197, version 15.8.0

  2. 3GPP: NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (2019). https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3197, version 15.5.1

  3. Abbott, M.B., Peterson, L.L.: A language-based approach to protocol implementation. IEEE/ACM Trans. Netw. 1(1), 4–19 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1109/90.222903

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Aho, A., Lam, M., Ullman, J., Sethi, R.: Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools. Pearson Education, London (2011)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Al Dallal, J., Saleh, K.: Synthesizing distributed protocol specifications from a UML state machine modeled service specification. J. Comput. Sci. Technol. 27 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-012-1293-1

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Arkko, J., Loughney, J., Zorn, G.: RFC6733 Diameter Base Protocol (2012). https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6733

  7. Bézivin, J., Jouault, F., Valduriez, P.: On the need for megamodels. In: Proceedings of the OOPSLA/GPCE: Best Practices for Model-Driven Software Development Workshop, 19th Annual ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications, October 2004, Vancouver, Canada (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bézivin, J.: Model driven engineering: an emerging technical space. In: Lämmel, R., Saraiva, J., Visser, J. (eds.) GTTSE 2005. LNCS, vol. 4143, pp. 36–64. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11877028_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Crocker, D., Overell, P.: RFC5234 Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF (2008). https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5234

  10. Eronen, P., Hiller, T., Zorn, G.: RFC4072 Diameter Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) Application (2005). https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4072

  11. Eysholdt, M., Behrens, H.: Xtext: implement your language faster than the quick and dirty way. In: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference Companion on Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications Companion, OOPSLA 2010, pp. 307–309. ACM, New York (2010). https://doi.org/10.1145/1869542.1869625

  12. Fisher, K., Mandelbaum, Y., Walker, D.: The next 700 data description languages. J. ACM 57(2), 10:1–10:51 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1145/1667053.1667059

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Fisher, K., Walker, D.: The PADS project: an overview. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Database Theory, ICDT 2011, pp. 11–17. ACM, New York (2011). https://doi.org/10.1145/1938551.1938556

  14. Gonzalez-Perez, C., Henderson-Sellers, B.: Metamodelling for Software Engineering. Wiley, Chichester (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hopcroft, J., Motwani, R., Ullman, J.: Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation. Addison-Wesley Series in Computer Science. Pearson Education International, London (2003)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22: ISO/IEC 14977:1996 Information Technology - Syntactic Metalanguage - Extended BNF (1996). https://www.iso.org/standard/26153.html

  17. ITU: International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication standardization sector web page (2019). https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed 18 July 2019

  18. ITU-T: Message Sequence Chart (MSC) (2011). https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Z.120/en

  19. ITU-T: Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1): Specification of basic notation (2015). https://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=x.680

  20. ITU-T: ASN.1 encoding rules: Specification of Encoding Control Notation (ECN) (2015). https://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=x.692

  21. ITU-T: Specification and Description Language (SDL) (2016). https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Z.100/en

  22. Kaliappan, P.S., König, H., Kaliappan, V.K.: Designing and verifying communication protocols using model driven architecture and spin model checker. In: International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering, CSSE 2008, Volume 2: Software Engineering, 12–14 December 2008, Wuhan, China, pp. 227–230 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1109/CSSE.2008.976

  23. Kelly, S., Tolvanen, J.P.: Domain-Specific Modeling. Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Press, Hoboken-Washington, DC (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kistel, T., Vandenhouten, R.: Extended type systems of action languages for the development of communication protocols. In: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), pp. 3054–3057, October 2014. https://doi.org/10.1109/SMC.2014.6974395

  25. Kumar, B., Jasperneite, J.: UML profiles for modeling real-time communication protocols. J. Obj. Technol. 9, 178–198 (2010). https://doi.org/10.5381/jot.2010.9.2.a5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Mernik, M., Heering, J., Sloane, A.M.: When and how to develop domain-specific languages. ACM Comput. Surv. 37(4), 316–344 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1145/1118890.1118892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. OMG: Object Constraint Language (2014). https://www.omg.org/spec/OCL

  28. OMG: Meta Object Facility (2016). https://www.omg.org/spec/MOF

  29. OMG: Unified Modeling Language (2017). https://www.omg.org/spec/UML

  30. OMG: UML Profile for MARTE (2018). https://www.omg.org/spec/MARTE

  31. OMG: Object Management Group web page (2019). https://www.omg.org/. Accessed 18 July 2019

  32. Pardillo, J.: A systematic review on the definition of UML profiles. In: Petriu, D.C., Rouquette, N., Haugen, Ø. (eds.) MODELS 2010. LNCS, vol. 6394, pp. 407–422. Springer, Heidelberg (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16145-2_28

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  33. Rahimi, H., Zibaeenejad, A., Rajabzadeh, P., Safavi, A.A.: On the security of the 5G-IoT architecture. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Cities and Internet of Things, SCIOT 2018, pp. 10:1–10:8. ACM, New York (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3269961.3269968

  34. Simonsen, K.: On the use of pragmatics for model-based development of protocol software. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Petri Nets and Software Engineering, 20–21 June 2011, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, vol. 723, pp. 179–190 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Steinberg, D., Budinsky, F., Merks, E., Paternostro, M.: EMF: Eclipse Modeling Framework. Eclipse Series. Pearson Education, Addison-Wesley Professional, London (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Tolvanen, J.P., Kelly, S.: Integrating models with domain-specific modeling languages. In: Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling, DSM 2010, pp. 10:1–10:6. ACM, New York (2010). https://doi.org/10.1145/2060329.2060354

  37. Vogel, L., Milinkovich, M.: Eclipse Rich Client Platform. Vogella Series. Lars Vogel, Hamburg (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Wang, Y., Gaspes, V.: An embedded language for programming protocol stacks in embedded systems. In: Proceedings of the 20th ACM SIGPLAN Workshop on Partial Evaluation and Program Manipulation, PEPM 2011, pp. 63–72. ACM, New York (2011). https://doi.org/10.1145/1929501.1929511

  39. Werner, C., Kraatz, S., Hogrefe, D.: A UML profile for communicating systems. In: Gotzhein, R., Reed, R. (eds.) SAM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4320, pp. 1–18. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11951148_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research and Development, Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Krapinska 45, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Goran Rajić

  2. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Unska 3, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Vlado Sruk

Authors
  1. Goran Rajić
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vlado Sruk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Goran Rajić or Vlado Sruk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Pau Fonseca i Casas

  2. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Maria-Ribera Sancho

  3. Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

    Edel Sherratt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Rajić, G., Sruk, V. (2019). Protocol Syntax Development Using Domain Specific Modeling Languages. In: Fonseca i Casas, P., Sancho, MR., Sherratt, E. (eds) System Analysis and Modeling. Languages, Methods, and Tools for Industry 4.0. SAM 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11753. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30690-8_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30690-8_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30689-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30690-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation