A new approach to the formal specification of software design methods, such as ER or State Transition Diagrams, is presented. A formal language based on semantic constraints is used to specify those methods. An example using the UML's Activity Diagrams is given which illustrates the proposed approach. The aim of this work is to provide a bridge across the gap between the formal methods and the less formal ones used in software design.

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In December 1996, a project called LV ARTS was finished and delivered to the ESA. The goal was to validate a real system, namely ATAC, an ADA coprocessor chip, running on a real board. The system was big enough to develop specific methodologies and tools, which are described in this paper. LOTOS was chosen to formally specify AT AC. The formal specification was used to produce test cases that were executed against the chip, after a completion process to obtain executable test cases.