• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.257-266
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• 2006

Recently TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) technology, which processes TCP/IP on a network adapter instead of the host CPU, has become an important approach to reduce TCP/IP processing overhead in the host CPU. There have been two approaches to implementing TOE: software TOE, in which TCP/IP is processed by an embedded processor on a network adapter; and hardware TOE, in which all TCP/IP functions are implemented by hardware. This paper proposes a hybrid TOE that combines software and hardware functions in the TOE. In the hybrid TOE, functions that cannot have guaranteed performance on an embedded processor because of heavy load are implemented by hardware. Other functions that do not impose as much load are implemented by software on embedded processors. The hybrid TOE guarantees network performance near that of hardware TOE and it has the advantage of flexibility, because it is easy to add new functions or offload upper-level protocols of TCP/IP. In this paper, we developed a prototype board with an FPGA and an ARM processor to implement a hybrid TOE prototype. We implemented the hardware modules on the FPGA and the software modules on the ARM processor. We also developed a coprocessing mechanism between the hardware and software modules. Experimental results proved that the hybrid TOE prototype can greatly reduce the load on a host CPU and we analyzed the effects of the coprocessing mechanism. Finally, we analyzed important features that are required to implement a complete hybrid TOE and we predict its performance.

• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.691-698
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• 2006

TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) is a technology that processes TCP/IP on a network adapter instead of a host CPU to reduce protocol processing overhead from the host CPU. There have been some approaches to implementing TOE: software TOE based on an embedded processor; hardware TOE based on ASIC implementation; and hybrid TOE in which software and hardware functions are combined. In this paper, we designed software modules and hardware modules for a hybrid TOE on an FPGA that had two processor cores. Software modules are based on the embedded Linux. Hardware modules are for data transmission (TX) and reception (RX). One core controls the TX path and the other controls the RX path of the Linux. This TX/RX path separation mechanism can reduce task switching overheads between processes and overcome poor performance of single embedded processor. Hardware modules deal with creating headers for outgoing packets, processing headers of incoming packets, and fetching or storing data from or to the host memory by DMA. These can make it possible to improve the performance of data transmission and reception. We proved performance of the TOE with separated transmission and reception paths by performing experiments with a TOE network adapter that was equipped with the FPGA having processor cores.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.3975-3984
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• 2022

Distributed control system architecture is adopted for I&C systems of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, where the geographically distributed control systems are connected to centralized servers & display stations via switched Ethernet networks. TCP/IP communication plays a significant role in the successful operations of this architecture. The communication tasks at control nodes are taken care by TCP/IP offload modules; local area switched network is realized using layer-2/3 switches, which are finally connected to network interfaces of centralized servers & display stations. Safety, security, reliability, and fault tolerance of control systems used for safety-related applications of nuclear power plants is ensured by indigenous design and qualification as per guidelines laid down by regulatory authorities. In the case of commercially available components, appropriate suitability analysis is required for getting the operation clearances from regulatory authorities. This paper details the proposed approach for the suitability analysis of TCP/IP communication nodes, including control systems at the field, network switches, and servers/display stations. Development of test platform using commercially available tools and diagnostics software engineered for control nodes/display stations are described. Each TCP link behavior with impaired packets and multiple traffic loads is described, followed by benchmarking of the network switch's routing characteristics and security features.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.1483-1495
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• 2005

TCP/IP is the most commonly used protocol to communicate among servers, and is used in a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, Data transmission through TCP/IP places a very heavy burden on host CPUs. And it hardly makes another job to be processed. So, TOE(TCP/IP Offload Engine) is considered in many servers. But, most of TOE modules tends to not support binary compatibility for standard socket interfaces. So, it has problems that existing applications should be modified and recompiled to get advantage of TOE device. In this paper, to resolve upper problems, we suppose design and implementation of TOE module supporting binary compatibility for standard socket interfaces. Also, it can make a usage of multiple TOEs and NICs simultaneously.