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Author Biography: Jan Axelson has written dozens of articles for technical publications including Embedded Systems Programming, EDN, and Circuit Cellar. She is the author of USB Complete, Serial Port Complete, and Parallel Port Complete. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781931448222 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Lakeview Research |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2004 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 482 |
| File size: | 10 MB |
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Embedded Ethernet and Internet Complete
Designing and Programming Small Devices for Networking
By Jan Axelson
Lakeview Research LLC
Copyright © 2003 Jan AxelsonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-931448-22-2
CHAPTER 1
Networking Basics
Some computers are independent units, with little need to exchange information with other computers near or far. At most, these computers may use local interfaces such as USB or RS-232 to communicate with printers or other devices close at hand.
But with a network connection, a computer can reach beyond its local interfaces to send and receive information of any kind, over distances large and small, via wires or through the air. Computers of different types can communicate using network protocols supported by all. In a network of embedded systems, each system can communicate with the other systems in the network, sharing information and sending and responding to requests as needed. Desktop computers in the network can monitor and control the operation of the embedded systems.
Many local networks follow the networking standard popularly known as Ethernet. Ethernet networks are capable and flexible. Many products designed for use in networks have support for Ethernet built in. A router, or gateway, enables an Ethernet network to communicate with computers in other networks, including computers on the Internet.
Two or more computers that share a network connection form a local area network, or LAN. The smallest network links just two computers. For example, a data logger might connect to a remote computer that receives and displays the logger's data. Or a personal computer (PC) may use a network connection to monitor and control a piece of equipment. At the other extreme, the Internet is the largest network. With an Internet connection, the computers in a local network can access resources on the Internet and make local resources available to any computer on the Internet.
To design and program embedded systems for networking, you need to understand the elements that make up a network, so this chapter begins with the basics of how networks are structured. Following this is an introduction to Ethernet, including its capabilities and how Ethernet networks manage network traffic.
Quick Start: The Elements of a Network
All computer networks have some things in common. Every network must have the physical components that enable the computers in the network to exchange data. And in every network, the computers must agree about how to share the data path that connects the computers, to help ensure that transmitted data gets to its destination.
Components
All networks include the following physical components:
• Two or more computers that need to communicate with each other. In the networks described in this book, at least one of the computers is an embedded system, which is a device that contains a computer dedicated to a specific task or a series of related tasks.
• A defined physical interface, to ensure that the output of a transmitting computer is compatible with the inputs of the receiving computers. For Ethernet networks, the Ethernet standard specifies this interface.
• Cables or wireless transceivers to connect the computers. Ethernet networks have several options for cables. An Ethernet interface may also connect to a device called a wireless access point, which enables the embedded system to access a wireless network.
The computers in the network must also agree on the following aspects of sharing the network:
• Rules for deciding when a computer may transmit on the network. When multiple computers share a data path, whether in a cable or wireless medium, the computers need to know when the path is available for transmitting. The Ethernet standard contains rules that specify when a computer may transmit.
• A way of identifying a transmission's intended destination. In Ethernet networks, multiple computers may receive a message intended for one computer in the network. When a message arrives at a computer's network interface, the computer needs to know whether the message is intended for itself or another computer. Every communication in an Ethernet network includes a hardware address that identifies the Ethernet interface of the intended receiver. Some communications also use Internet protocols that contain additional addressing information, such as an addresses that identify the sending and receiving computers on the Internet and a port, or process, that receives the communication at the destination computer.
• A defined format for the information sent on the network, so a computer can understand and use the information it receives from the network. In Ethernet networks, all data travels in structures called frames. Each frame includes fields for data, addressing, and other information that helps the data reach its destination without errors. The information in a frame's data field may also use protocols that help the receiver of the frame decide what to do with the received data.
Modular Design
To make designing and maintaining a network as easy as possible, most networked computers use modules, or components, that work together to handle the job of network communications. Each module is responsible for a single task or a small set of related tasks. Each module knows how to exchange information with one or more of the other modules, but the modules don't need to know details about how the other modules accomplish their tasks.
The modular approach has a couple of benefits. If each module is as independent as possible, it's easier to make changes when needed, possibly even swapping in a different module entirely, without requiring changes in the other modules. And isolating problems is easier when a single module contains all of the code to perform a function.
A module may consist of hardware, software, or a combination. A software module may be as small as a procedure or subroutine within a larger application or unit of code. Or a module may be a library of routines or a class or package of classes in a separate file.
In an embedded system, the program code may be referred to as firmware, which typically means that the code is stored in Flash memory or another nonvolatile memory chip, rather than on a disk drive. In general, with software stored on a drive, users can install, run, and uninstall applications as needed. In contrast, firmware tends to be an integral, seldom-changing part of the device. Users may have the ability to load new firmware into a device, but the new firmware is typically an update or upgrade to existing code, rather than an entirely different type of application.
The Network Protocol Stack
You can think of the modules used in networking as being stacked in layers, one above another. A computer's network protocol stack consists of the modules involved with networking. Figure 1-1 shows an example of a work protocol stack for a computer that connects to an Ethernet network and supports common Internet protocols.
(To prevent confusion, I should point out that this use of the term stack has nothing to do with the internal stack of a computer's central processing unit (CPU). A CPU's stack is a special area of memory for temporary storage. This type of stack has no direct relation to networking.)
At the bottom of the stack is the hardware interface to the network cable. At the top of the stack is a module or modules that provide data to send on the network and use the data received from the network. In the middle there may be one or more modules involved with addressing, error-checking, and providing and using status and control information.
In transmitting, a message travels down the stack from the application layer that initiates the message to the network interface that places the message on the network. In receiving, the message travels up the stack from the network interface to the application layer that uses the data in the received message.
The number of layers a message passes through can vary. For some messages that travel only within a local network, the application layer can communicate directly with the Ethernet driver. Messages that travel on the Internet must use the Internet Protocol. Messages that use the Internet Protocol can also use the User Datagram Protocol or the Transmission Control Protocol to add error checking or flow-control capabilities.
The Application: Providing and Using Network Data
The application provides data to send on the network and uses data received from the network. An application often has a user interface that enables users to request data from a computer on the network or provide data to send on the network. In an embedded system, the user interface may just enable basic configuring and monitoring functions, while the system performs its network communications without user intervention.
The data that the application sends and receives may be anything: a single byte; a line of text; a request for a Web page; the contents of a Web page; a file containing text, an image, binary data, or program code; or anything that a computer wants to send to another computer in the network.
The data sent by an application follows a protocol, or set of rules, that enables the application at the receiving computer to understand what to do with the received data. An application may use a standard protocol such as the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) for requesting and sending Web pages, the file transfer protocol (FTP) for transferring files, or the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) or Post Office Protocol (POP3) for e-mail messages. Applications may also send and receive data using application-specific protocols.
In an embedded system, the application might be a module that periodically reads and stores sensor readings or the states of other external signals, or an application might use received data to control motors, relays, or other circuits. An embedded system can function as a Web server that receives and responds to requests for Web pages, which may enable users to provide input or view real-time data. Embedded systems can send and receive information via e-mail and in files via FTP.
An application layer may support multiple processes, or tasks. For example, a single system might host a Web page and also provide an FTP server that makes files available for downloading. Port numbers can identify specific processes at the destination computer.
TCP and UDP: Error Checking, Flow Control, and Ports
A network communication often includes additional information to help data get to its destination efficiently and without errors. A module that supports the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) can add information for use in error checking, flow control, and identifying an application-level process at the source and destination computers.
Error-checking values help the receiver detect when received data doesn't match what was sent. Flow-control information helps the sender determine when the receiver is ready for more data. And a value that identifies an application-level port, or process, can help in routing received data to the correct process in the application layer.
TCP performs all of these functions. Many Internet and local-network communications such as requests for Web pages and sending and receiving e-mail use TCP. Windows and other operating systems have support for TCP built in. Development kits for network-capable embedded systems often include libraries or packages with TCP support.
In sending data using TCP, the application layer passes the data to send and values that identify the data's source and destination to a TCP layer. The TCP layer creates a TCP segment that consists of a header followed by the application data (Figure 1-2). The header is a defined structure with fields containing information used in error checking, flow control, and routing the message to the correct port at the destination. The TCP layer doesn't change the message to be sent. It just places the message in the data portion of the TCP segment. The TCP segment encapsulates, or provides a container for, the data received from the application layer. The TCP layer then passes the segment to the IP layer for transmitting on the network.
In the other direction, the TCP layer receives a segment from the IP layer, strips the TCP header, and passes the segment to the port specified in the TCP header.
A simpler alternative to TCP is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Like a TCP segment, a UDP datagram has a header, followed by a data portion that contains the application data. UDP includes fields for specifying ports and optional error-checking, but no support for flow control. Windows and many development kits for embedded systems include support for UDP.
Chapter 5 has more about TCP and UDP.
In some networks, communications may skip the TCP/UDP layer entirely. For example, a local network of embedded systems may have no need for flow control or additional error-checking beyond what the Ethernet frame provides. In these cases, an application may communicate directly with a lower layer in the network protocol stack, such as the IP layer or Ethernet driver.
IP: Internet Addressing and Routing
The Internet Protocol (IP) layer can help data get to its destination even if the source and destination computers are on different local networks. As the name suggests, the Internet Protocol enables computers on the Internet to communicate with each other. Because IP is closely tied to TCP and UDP, local networks that use TCP and UDP also use IP.
The term TCP/IP refers to communications that use TCP and IP. The term can also refer more broadly to the suite of protocols that includes TCP, IP, and related protocols such as UDP.
In Ethernet networks, a unique hardware address identifies each interface on the network. IP addresses are more flexible because they aren't specific to a network type. A message that uses IP can travel through different types of networks, including Ethernet, token-ring, and wireless networks, as long as all of the networks support IP.
In sending a message, the TCP layer passes the TCP segment and the source and destination addresses to the IP layer. The IP layer encapsulates the TCP segment in an IP datagram, which consists of a header followed by a data portion that may contain a UDP datagram or a TCP segment (Figure 1-3). The header has fields for the source and destination IP addresses, error checking of the header, routing, and a value that identifies the protocol, such as TCP or UDP, used by the data portion.
In a similar way, a UDP layer may pass a UDP datagram to the IP layer.
In receiving a message, the IP layer receives an IP datagram from a lower level in the network stack. The IP layer performs error-checking and uses the protocol value to determine where to pass the contents of the data portion.
In the IP header, the source and destination IP addresses identify the sending and receiving computers. Each computer in a network that uses IP addresses must have an address that is unique within the network or networks that the sending computer can communicate with. Local networks can use addresses in three blocks reserved for local networks. A computer that communicates over the Internet must have an address that is different from the address of every other computer on the Internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) assigns blocks of addresses to Internet Service Providers and others who may in turn assign portions of their addresses to other users.
Three protocols often used along with IP for assigning and learning IP addresses are the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), the domain name system (DNS) protocol, and the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
A computer functioning as a DHCP server can use DHCP to assign IP addresses to the computers in a local network. A computer that wants to learn the IP address of a domain such as Lvr.com can use the DNS protocol to request the information from a computer functioning as a DNS server. And a computer that wants to learn the Ethernet hardware address that corresponds to an IP address in a local network can broadcast an ARP request for this information.
Chapter 4 has more details about IP and related protocols.
A communication in a local network that doesn't use TCP or UDP may not require IP. Instead, the application layer may communicate directly with a lower layer such as the Ethernet driver.
The Ethernet Driver and Controller: The Hardware Interface
In an Ethernet network, the interface to the network is an Ethernet controller chip and its driver. The Ethernet driver contains program code that manages communications between the controller chip and a higher level in the network protocol stack. To send an IP datagram over an Ethernet network, the IP layer passes the datagram to the Ethernet controller's driver. The driver instructs the Ethernet controller to transmit an Ethernet frame containing the datagram, preceded by a header that contains addressing and error-checking information (Figure 1-4).
In receiving an IP datagram from the network, the Ethernet controller checks to see if the destination address matches the interface's hardware address or a multicast or broadcast address that the controller is configured to accept. If there is a match, the controller checks for errors and the driver passes the datagram or an error indication to the IP layer.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Embedded Ethernet and Internet Complete by Jan Axelson. Copyright © 2003 Jan Axelson. Excerpted by permission of Lakeview Research LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,1. Networking Basics,
2. Building a Network: Hardware Options,
3. Design Choices,
4. Using the Internet Protocol in Local and Internet Communications,
5. Exchanging Messages Using UDP and TCP,
6. Serving Web Pages with Dynamic Data,
7. Serving Web Pages that Respond to User Input,
8. E-mail for Embedded Systems 339,
9. Using the File Transfer Protocol,
10. Keeping Your Devices and Network Secure,
Index,