Protocol Implementation Using Model Based Design

Today's network stacks are in most cases pre-configured as part of the operating system and perform adequately for many tasks and applications. However, the way in which networks are used is constantly changing. Currently the biggest changes are in the increasing use of multi-media whose characteristics are very different to traditional data communications for which TCP, for example is well suited; and single application networks of, for example sensors. These new and more specialist network applications are not well served by general purpose network stacks for a wide variety of reasons. We are interested in:
• Developing new protocols for specialist applications in multi-media and sensor networks.
• Not having to write much code.
• Rapid testing of these protocols using tools such as simulation.
• Low cost efficient implementation of protocols.
Achieving these research goals with few resources requires new Software Engineering approaches. We have been experimenting with the use of Model Based Design (MBD) using Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) to represent objects and concepts. Experimental tooling is becoming available to allow rapid development of model based software. By applying these tools to networking software the turn round time for implementation and then for networking experiments can be decreased. The automated implementation of textual and graphical editors for DSLs should also make it much easier to iteratively test varying configurations.