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This paper examines the new role of system testing, which has evolved to meet the complex requirements of modern systems. Inadequacies of the traditional approach to system testing are briefly discussed. The application of the new system testing concept is demonstrated through description of a large system test program. In addition, the major activities required to construct and implement such a test program are analyzed.

The requirements for and special problems involved in human factors field testing are described. With one exception field testing is simply an extension of laboratory testing to the operational-use environment. The exception is the inability to control and test individual variables. The purpose of field testing is to verify that the system performs according to specification. This can be accomplished by comparing field performance with the system description or “template”.

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CNP.1993.340910 Systems of Communicating Machines (SCM) is a formal model for the specification, verification and testing of communication protocols, which has been used to specify and verify several well-known protocols. In this paper we discuss a program, called mushroom, which automates the analysis using the SCM model. The pro­gram generates either the system state analysis or the full reachability analysis. The automation of this model is expected to greatly facilitate the use of the model for protocol design and analysis. The program has been used to verify some theoretical results, serving to con­firm these earlier results.

Building a quiet plant requires attention to noise from the initial concept to onstream operations. This paper is based primarily on outside process plants but the same approach is valid for a wide variety of facilities. Part I deals with achieving an acceptably quiet noise environment in the plant by: (1) establishing goals for acceptable composite noise levels; (2) converting the goals into a single set of criteria; (3) incorporating the criteria into design and performance specifications for contractors and suppliers; (4) considering compliance capability and using desgn review; (5) requiring compliance testing before and/or after startup; (6) enforcing design contractor and supplier guarantees on excessively noisy equipment; (7) providing for maintenance of acceptable noise levels throughout the life of the plant; and (8) recycling the experience gained to improve future performance. Part II describes the additional procedures required for converting goals into criteria when there is concern over the ...

`The essence of quality control lies in precise product description and manufacturing conformance, and the word "quality" has no part in either'