Network protocols invariably involve communicating parties exchanging packets. While the protocol can often be defined in terms of a finite state machine, or a language such as C or SDL, for human understanding, it is often useful to be able to see a picture of the packet exchange. For example, a two-dimensional time-space diagram is often used, in which the vertical dimension represents time, and the horizontal dimension represents space. Network nodes are shown as vertical lines, and packets as arrows between these lines, starting and stopping at various points in space and time. The goal of this project is to automate the generation of such pictures. It will involve developing software (in C, C++ or Java) that will take as input a description of the packets that are exchanged (e.g. time of transmission, source and destination addresses & other parameters) and produce a graphic that depicts this exchange. Input should be possible in the form of text or a trace produced by tcpdump or an ns simulation, and output should be possible in Postscript form, as well as animated form (e.g. using GIF animations). The software must be portable between Linux and Windows, and be suitable for open-source release.
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Jacky So |
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