DESIGN OF A KERNEL FOR IMPLEMENTING COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS

We describe the design of a kernel for an inexpensive front-end proces sor to run the lower layers of common communication protocols, Impleme nting a full fledged kernel on a card requires large memory, expensive hardware and heavy processing overhead. We studied the requirements o f the layers of communication protocols which generally run as a part of the host kernel. We realised that a workable kernel for the front-e nd processor which has a subset of the features of the host kernel, co uld be implemented within reasonable time, This could provide the func tions required by the communication protocol layers and run them withi n the constraints of inexpensive hardware,The aims of this research we re manifold: (1) To explore the general set of requirements of common connection-oriented and connectionless protocols. (2) To design and pr esent algorithms of a kernel which can satisfy such requirements, Sinc e the kernel is based on this general set of requirements, it will be generic and not specific to only the protocol running on the card, Thu s it can be used to download different protocols on the card. (3) Sugg est implementation techniques so as to reduce memory and processing ov erhead on the host and to improve the performance of the protocols run ning in the kernel. (4) To actually run a protocol on this kernel and compare its performance with an existing design.