MISSING LYNX

Kitten Technical White Paper:

Kitten is a new networking technology designed to handle hard real-time applications, as well as less demanding business applications.

Kitten is based on a number of existing, proven technologies, as well as an innovative addressing scheme, and a dynamic reconfiguration method, both of which are unique to Kitten.

Kitten uses a dynamic ring topology, with sub-rings created as needed.  A hub-based geometry is used,  with multiple ring paths provided between hubs.  Individual Kitten devices use connections to one or more hubs, depending on bandwidth and reliability requirements.

Variable bandwidth is provided by allocating multiple frames in a cycle to devices with high bandwidth requirements.  This is done by a distributed bandwidth allocation algorithm, resident in the Kitten network interface cards and hubs.

It’s possible for a Kitten Network Interface Card to act as an inter-ring bridge in case of hub failure, or to provide increased bandwidth.  This would normally only happen if something fails, or if a large amount of bandwidth needs to be allocated on a temporary basis

• deterministic

            Kitten is a modified token-ring system, and token ring systems are by nature deterministic - there’s a known maximum time between frames.  Kitten can sense network topology and dynamically reconfigure itself to form shortest latency sub-rings to meet a given bandwidth and reliability requirement.

• variable bandwidth

            Kitten allocates frames within the frame cycle according to bandwidth needed.  A device with high bandwidth requirements gets more frames per frame cycle than lower bandwidth devices.  Bit rate on the ring is constant, but frame delivery rate is variable.

* peer-to-peer

            All devices in a Kitten network are able to initiate transmission.  There is no “master” device - any Kitten interface card can take over network management as needed.  This provides enhanced reliability, since any device on a sub-ring can handle bandwidth control.  A protocol similar to the SCI/RT “Train” protocol is proposed for this purpose.  A variant of the TADIL/J network protocol is proposed for network entry and exit.

• OSI model-based

            While Kitten isn’t an OSI compliant system, like many of today’s systems it’s based on the OSI 7-layer model.  The primary focus of Kitten development, so far, has been layers 1, 2, 3 and 7.

• automatic dynamic reconfiguration

            Kitten can reconfigure itself as needed to maintain reliable, high speed network communication.  It uses a “self healing” ring structure, similar to  that of Fiber Channel, and creates sub-rings dynamically, depending on available interconnect paths.  A distributed dynamic optimization algorithm is used to decide when, where, and how to split the Kitten network into optimal sub-rings, based on bandwidth and reliability requirements.

• plug-and-play

            Kitten provides advanced plug and play capabilities.  Devices with a built-in Kitten network interface are configured to provide device specific information to the network.  This is supported by device description blocks, similar in purpose to those used in USB or Bluetooth.  A service discovery protocol, functionally similar to that of Bluetooth but of a design unique  to kitten, is provided so that when new devices are added to the network, their functionality is immediately usable, and discoverable by other parts of the network.

• handles large networks

            Kitten has a unique, variable length, hierarchical addressing structure that allows for easy expansion of the network.  You can’t run out of addresses with Kitten. It is designed to handle trillions of addresses so as to support micro-and nanotechnologies. Both physical and logical network addressing are supported, as well as global unique physical addresses, and addressing by function.  Modified Huffman encoding is used for addressing, with an ECC for reliability.

• readily expandable

            Kitten’s unique addressing structure, plug and play capability, service discovery process, and dynamic reconfigurability make network expansion easy.

• platform independence

            Kitten is designed to be platform independent, with drivers available for a wide variety of hosts.  Interface to the Kitten network is via a Kitten Network Interface, which may be a PCI card installed in a host , or accessed through a SCSI cable.  Other ways of interfacing with Kitten are also being considered.

• hot-plug able

Kitten uses a hot-plug able, self-healing ring topology, based on a physical hub geometry.  Multiple hubs may be interconnected as needed to provide any desired level of network reliability and throughput.

• hard real-time

            Kitten is designed for hard real-time applications, such as multi-media or factory automation applications.  Kitten knows what its available bandwidth is, and, within limits, can reconfigure itself to take advantage of multiple paths in the ring structure to ensure timely data delivery. 

• intelligent network management

            Kitten can tell you when you need to add more hubs or paths to support a given bandwidth and reliability specification.  Any networking system has its limits - even Kitten.  But Kitten makes those limits much easier to accommodate, and can tell you when you’re reaching them, before they become a problem.

• multi-media support

            Kitten is designed to make multi-media applications easier.  It supports broadcast and multicast operations, and dynamic bandwidth allocation.  Layer 7 functions for synchronizing multiple devices are provided.  Both channel-oriented and connectionless transmission methods are provided

• low cost

            Despite all of its advanced features, Kitten is designed to be a low cost solution, both to install and maintain.  It can be implemented using off the shelf components, or with a custom ASIC, depending on volume and application needs. 

• remote upgrades

            The firmware in the Network Interface is resident in easily upgradeable flash memory, so there’s no need to replace ROMs to upgrade your system.  Remote upgrade capability is possible, as well, so that an entire Kitten network can have its firmware upgraded from a central location.

• communities of interest

            Kitten networks are organized as “communities of interest”.  Sub-rings are formed from sets of devices that are logically related.  This is part of the automatic network management function.