Precise IPv4/IPv6 packet generator based on NetCOPE platform

This paper presents an architecture of a hardware network packet generator designed for the COMBOv2 cards using the NetCOPE development platform. The packet generator internal structure allows synthetic IPv4 and IPv6 network packet creation as well as the real network packet transmission. Based on COMBOv2 add-on interface card, the generator is able to transmit packets at speed of 2×10 Gbit/s or 4×1 Gbit/s. Synthetic data are created using high quality pseudo-random number generator. If desired, previously captured network packets can be transmitted back to the network with exactly the same time drift as were captured. This is accomplished by extremely precise timestamps, which can be generated by the Timestamp Module included in the NetCOPE platform.