smoltcp-rs/smoltcp
Smoltcp
smoltcp is a standalone TCP/IP network stack written in Rust, designed specifically for bare-metal and embedded systems. It provides a memory-safe implementation of the internet protocol suite that operates without requiring dynamic heap allocation.
The project is distinguished by its heap-less memory management, using fixed-size buffers and manually allocated memory to ensure deterministic performance. It employs zero-copy packet processing and an interface-based hardware abstraction to decouple the network stack from physical hardware.
The stack covers a broad range of networking capabilities, including connection-oriented TCP streams with congestion control and connectionless UDP datagrams for both IPv4 and IPv6. It supports Ethernet link-layer management, ICMP diagnostic messaging, CIDR-based routing, and specialized 6LoWPAN wireless networking with header compression for low-power environments.
The library includes utilities for network interface administration, raw packet capture, and configurable resource limits to fit the constraints of specific hardware.
Features
- Bare-Metal Network Stacks - Provides a complete TCP/IP stack for systems without an operating system or dynamic heap memory.
- TCP/IP Stacks - Provides a memory-safe TCP/IP stack for bare-metal systems without requiring a heap allocator.
- TCP Connection Management - Implements socket buffer management to coordinate data streams between clients and servers.
- Connection Lifecycle State Machines - Implements the TCP connection lifecycle using a formal finite state machine for handshakes and congestion control.
- Ethernet Frame Processing - Implements processing for Ethernet II frames, supporting unicast, broadcast, multicast, and ARP.
- Ethernet Frame Switching - Handles Ethernet II frame routing for various traffic types and manages ARP entries.
- Network Stacks - Provides a standalone implementation of layered communication protocols for customized packet routing and processing.
- Socket Networking - Manages multiple network sockets within a single set to coordinate data flow.
- TCP Connection Lifecycles - Handles the full TCP connection lifecycle, from initiation to termination and byte stream reception.
- TCP Client Connections - Enables establishing TCP connections to remote addresses to exchange data streams.
- TCP Connection Operations - Provides support for window scaling, congestion control, and segment reassembly during active socket operations.
- TCP Socket Programming - Implements a complete TCP socket system for reliable connection-oriented byte stream exchange.
- IPv6 Routing Rules - Routes IPv6 traffic via CIDR tables and processes hop-by-hop headers.
- UDP Datagram Transfers - Transmits connectionless data packets over IPv4 and IPv6 with automatic checksum generation.
- UDP Endpoint Implementations - Provides the implementation for creating UDP endpoints to exchange connectionless data packets via port binding.
- IPv4 and IPv6 Unicast and Multicast Routing - Directs outgoing IPv4 and IPv6 packets using default gateways and CIDR route tables.
- Bare-Metal Runtimes - Provides a networking implementation for embedded systems that operates without requiring dynamic heap allocation.
- Fixed-Size Buffer Management - Provides a heap-less memory model using fixed-size buffers to ensure deterministic performance on bare-metal systems.
- Rust Network Frameworks - Provides a memory-safe Rust library for managing network interfaces, sockets, and packet routing.
- Deterministic Network Memory Management - Ensures predictable performance in real-time systems by using fixed memory allocations for network sockets.
- 6LoWPAN Networking - Routes IPv6 over low-power wireless networks using header compression and packet fragmentation.
- Low-Power Wireless Connectivity - Supports IPv6 routing over constrained wireless networks using header compression and fragmentation.
- Interface Route Definitions - Enables assigning IP addresses and defining default IPv4 and IPv6 routes for the device.
- ICMP Diagnostic Utilities - The project supports sending ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 echo requests to a remote address to verify connectivity and measure round-trip time.
- ICMPv4 Message Processing - The project responds to echo requests and monitors sockets for port unreachable or specific identifier messages.
- ICMPv6 Message Processing - The project responds to echo requests and validates header checksums for IPv6 diagnostic messages.
- Socket Buffer Management - Enables the allocation of fixed-size transmit and receive buffers to manage data flow without a dynamic heap.
- Neighbor Discovery Protocol - Implements Neighbor Advertisement and Router Solicitation messages for IPv6 connectivity.
- Interface-Based IP Assignments - Configures IP addresses and routing tables by mapping them to specific hardware MAC addresses.
- Network Control Messaging - Generates and responds to ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 control messages such as echo requests.
- Network Data Compression - Implements 6LoWPAN header compression and decompression for UDP and extension headers.
- Zero-Copy Packet Processing - Processes network frames by referencing memory slices directly to avoid data duplication during parsing.
- Resource Limit Configuration - Allows tuning of memory and resource limits for interface addresses and buffer sizes.
- Protocol Abstraction Layers - Employs a layered architecture to route packets sequentially through Ethernet, IP, and Transport layers.
- CIDR Route Tables - Implements routing of outgoing traffic by matching destination addresses against CIDR network prefixes.
- Hardware Abstraction Layers - Uses generic traits to provide a consistent API that decouples the network stack from physical hardware implementations.
- Network Interface Configurators - Provides utilities for configuring IP addresses and TCP/IP properties on network interfaces.
