An architecture of virtual NIC driver based on WinPcap and a method to test it

Abstract

An architecture of WinPcap based virtual NIC driver is proposed for developing embedded network applications. It makes it possible to develop applications with real network traffic using simulation environment in PC rather than the embedded hardware, reduce development cycles while keeping the cost down. A test method with the tool of Iperf is proposed to test the throughput, packet loss rate for performance and feasibility evaluation of the architecture.More and more embedded systems today require network connectivity. These systems are typically developed in a team environment. Traditionally a number of embedded development kits are needed for each developer, which drives up cost in terms of supplying hardware, tools, debugger, and so on. Furthermore, embedded oriented tools would have a learning curve, costing developer's time and effort in order to be efficient in using these tools. Observing that certain network-related logic can be simulated on host platform, and later ported to the embedded target, thus, alternative method and simulators are used to speed-up the development and cut the cost.Porting embedded OS for the development of TCP/IP stack is usually preferred. However, there is no NIC(Network Interface Card) driver after OS porting. Communication between embedded OS and NIC should be implemented in order to utilize the network stack provided by the embedded OS rather than the one comes with the host in order to capture and send packets between NIC and embedded OS.