Range-enhanced packet classification to improve computational performance on field programmable gate array

Abstract

Multi-filed packet classification is a powerful classification engine that classifies input packets into different fields based on predefined rules. As the demand for the internet increases, efficient network routers can support many network features like quality of services (QoS), firewalls, security, multimedia communications, and virtual private networks. However, the traditional packet classification methods do not fulfill today’s network functionality and requirements efficiently. In this article, an efficient range enhanced packet classification (REPC) module is designed using a range bit-vector encoding method, which provides a unique design to store the precomputed values in memory. In addition, the REPC supports range to prefix features to match the packets to the corresponding header fields. The synthesis and implementation results of REPC are analyzed and tabulated in detail. The REPC module utilizes 3% slices on Artix-7 field programmable gate array (FPGA), works at 99.87 Gbps throughput with a latency of 3 clock cycles. The proposed REPC is compared with existing packet classification approaches with better hardware constraints improvements.