Conformance Testing of Link 16 Message Standard based on ATC-Gen

Message standard is the key factor of data link. It specifies the standardized message formats and rules for realizing tactical functions. The complexity of message standard including thousands of rules described in natural language which is prone to ambiguous interpretations poses great challenges in conformance testing. Modeling and simulation (M&S) has been a core technology for conformance testing of message standard. In this paper, Automated Test Case Generator (ATC-Gen) which is initiated by Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) for Link 16 testing is studied. It greatly increases the simulation-based testing capabilities and automation of the testing processes. We discuss the ATC-Gen methodology and show the experiment results based on modeling and simulation (M&S) framework and Discrete Event System (DEVS) model.