General-purpose high-speed data communication infrastructure realized with commodity PCs

A research group led by Professor Mitsuru Maruyama, Specially Appointed Professor with the Research Promotion Organization of Kanagawa Institute of Technology, has newly developed the “DPDK-dock Development Environment” as a fundamental technology enabling high-speed data communication on general-purpose PCs and has released it as open-source software available to anyone.

The DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) used in this development environment is a software development kit that directly controls the PC’s CPU and communication equipment without going through the OS^*1, enabling high-speed execution of processes such as sending and receiving communication data. However, while it achieves high communication performance, its configuration and usage require advanced expertise in the internal structure and operational mechanisms of the OS.

The newly developed DPDK-dock development environment is designed to facilitate the use of this DPDK. As a result, software development and operational verification related to high-speed data communication can now be efficiently performed on a PC, just like general application development. Additionally, using this DPDK-dock development environment, we developed and released an SRv6 software router^*2 based on the communication protocol known as IPv6^*3.

*1 OS
Abbreviation for “operating system.” The OS controls computer hardware and mediates access so that software can utilize it.

*2 SRv6 software router
An innovative technology that provides routing functions for flexible control of communication paths as software, rather than relying on dedicated communication hardware

*3 IPv6
A method for identifying devices in internet communications. This communication standard is designed to support the connection of more devices than with conventional methods.

Challenges in communications technology brought by data volume increases

With the popularization of video streaming and cloud services, the volume of data transmitted over networks is increasing every year. To address this, communication technologies capable of processing large volumes of data with flexibility and low latency have become essential.

Against this backdrop, SRv6, based on IPv6, is gaining attention. SRv6 enables flexible communication control without the need for complex configuration on each communication device by embedding the routing information directly in the communication data.

On the other hand, when SRv6 is implemented as a software router, it requires high-speed processing of large volumes of communication data, and conventional methods were unable to keep pace. The DPDK is a technology that enables high-speed data communication by directly controlling the PC’s CPU and communication equipment. It serves as a key technological basis for addressing this challenge.

Design and functionality of the DPDK-dock development environment

Construction of the DPDK-dock development environment

In this study, the research group constructed DPDK-dock as a development environment to significantly enhance development efficiency while maintaining the advantages of high-speed data communication using DPDK.

When using DPDK-dock, each execution unit operating in parallel, also known as a thread, is managed as an independent entity within the applications that process communication data. This allows monitoring of the operational status while enabling control of allocation changes, startup, and shutdown from outside the application. As a result, performance evaluation and operational verification can now be performed efficiently (Fig. 1).

Visualizing the state of data processing

In conventional DPDK environments, it has been difficult to grasp the internal program operations, such as which processes are executed and in what order, from the reception to transmission of communication data. However, DPDK-dock has also implemented a function for visualizing the state of data processing. As a result, it is now possible to quickly identify what causes data processing bottlenecks and malfunctions, thereby shortening the time required for development and maintenance.

In addition, this development environment is designed as a versatile platform not only for router functions like data transfer and path control but also for security functions such as firewalls that block and control communications, as well as high-speed video data processing. Therefore, it is expected to see use in system development and technology verification across diverse fields related to communications and information processing.

Release of an SRv6 software router and its expansion into video processing technology

At the end of fiscal year 2025, the research group released an SRv6 software router (Fig. 2) that is freely customizable, based on this development environment. Furthermore, the group is developing an SRv6 End.AN^*4 platform that adapts the 8K uncompressed video processing technology that they previously researched to DPDK-dock, enabling simultaneous high-speed communication and high-load computation.

These results are expected to contribute to the realization of a society where large volumes of data can be exchanged seamlessly.

*4 SRv6 End.AN
A platform model that integrates SRv6’s packet forwarding function with application processing (network functions), enabling low-latency inline service chaining. This model is currently pursuing a standardization proposal with the IETF SPRING Working Group.