The FINS framework: an open source userspace networking subsystem for linux

This article provides an overview of the Flexible InterNetworking Stack (FINS) Framework, an open source userspace networking subsystem for Linux. The goal of the FINS Framework is to facilitate experimentation in wireless networking research by simplifying the tasks of implementing, deploying, and testing networking protocols and ideas. This is accomplished by moving networking functionality into userspace to avoid numerous challenges associated with implementing ideas in the Linux kernel. In addition to simplifying coding, the framework is designed to run on Android mobile devices to enable truly mobile wireless networking experiments. Details of the framework's architecture and implementation are included, as well as baseline performance results.