A Software Architecture for Modular Implementation of Adaptive Protocol Stacks

This paper presents a modular architecture for the design, implementation and performance evaluation of protocol stacks. The architecture allows a high degree of flexibility through composing complex behavior of a communication system using so-called Functional Units (FUs). The composition of Functional Units (FUs) to form a Functional Unit Network (FUN) is achieved by offering a generic management interface. The authors tackle the issue of protocol development for communication systems from the perspective of software design and engineering. The requirements and the resulting interfaces for the Functional Units (FUs) are the main focus of this paper.