Performances of a communication circuit intended for the implementation of the high level layers of the OSI model (or equivalent); from the IEEE LLB sublayer up to the session layer

The authors present and analyze the performance results observed during the validation of MC3, a high-performance communication circuit (using dedicated data structures) intended for the implementation of the OSI high-level protocol. Starting with the presentation of the functional characteristics and the multiprocessor architecture of the MC3 circuit, it is shown how the simulation model (designed on a transputer microprocessor-based board) and the validation environment are developed. Through the implementation of a reduced size application (class 0 of ISO transport layer), two steps of simulation are used for the effective validation of MC3. A functional simulation permits the observation of the specific functionalities of the circuit. A synthesis of performance results observed during the behavioral simulation step is discussed. The influence of communication-specific parameters (linked to memory management, data structure evaluation, and communication between processes) on the protocol throughput is also discussed.<>