NeTS: Small: Collaborative Research: The Flexible Internetwork Stack (FINS) Framework

现代网络使传统网络的许多假设失效。 例如，移动的ad hoc网络（MANET）使网络中存在稳定路由的假设失效，从而使传统路由技术陷入混乱。 手持计算设备进一步挑战了关于平台移动性的假设。 虽然跨层设计以应对这些新挑战的需求已变得众所周知，但尚未出现传统网络堆栈的替代品。 在商用硬件和软件上实现实验性的跨层方法仍然具有挑战性。在这个项目中，我们正在构建一个模块化的，可扩展的，实验性的网络堆栈实现框架，称为FINS（灵活的互联网络堆栈）框架。 该框架允许用户在需要时利用现有协议（如TCP和IP），提供比现有实现提供更多实时控制和透明度的实现，同时允许用户根据需要替换或修改组件。 因此，FINS框架允许研究人员以以前只能在模拟中或通过进行艰苦的操作系统修改的方式随时访问网络堆栈。FINS框架促进了新网络技术和上下文感知应用的随时实现，从而降低了参与实验性网络研究的门槛。 该框架的最初实现是在手持设备上。 该框架通过开源许可证发布，使其广泛适用于研究社区。正在开发一套利用FINS框架和手持设备的实践网络课程模块，并用于主要本科院校的本科研究。

Modern networks invalidate many of the assumptions of traditional networking. For example, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) invalidate the assumption that there will be stable routes in the network, throwing traditional routing techniques into disarray. Handheld computing devices further challenge assumptions about platform mobility. While the need for cross-layer design to meet these new challenges has become well known, no replacement for the traditional network stack has emerged yet. Implementing experimental cross-layer approaches on commodity hardware and software remains challenging.In this project we are building a framework for modular, extensible, experimental, network stack implementation, called the FINS (Flexible Internetwork Stack) Framework. The framework allows users to leverage existing protocols (such as TCP and IP) where needed, providing implementations that provide more real-time control and transparency than is available in existing implementations, while allowing users to replace or modify components as desired. Thus, the FINS Framework allows researchers ready access to the network stack in a manner previously possible only in simulation or by making painstaking operating system modifications.The FINS Framework facilitates ready implementation of new network technologies and context-aware applications thereby lowering the bar for participation in experimental networking research. The initial implementation of the framework is on handheld devices. The framework is being released via open source license, making it broadly available to the research community. A set of hands-on networking course modules utilizing the FINS Framework and handheld devices is being developed, and utilized for undergraduate research at a predominantly undergraduate institution.