A Protocol-Independent Transport Architecture

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mohammadtaheri, Kimiya, Gao, David, Zhang, Samuel, Chen, Matthew, Su, Eric, Ji, Pengyu, Syed, Saad, Neely, Chris, Baldi, Mario, Kapre, Nachiket, Arashloo, Mina Tahmasbi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Mohammadtaheri, Kimiya
Gao, David
Zhang, Samuel
Chen, Matthew
Su, Eric
Ji, Pengyu
Syed, Saad
Neely, Chris
Baldi, Mario
Kapre, Nachiket
Arashloo, Mina Tahmasbi
author_facet Mohammadtaheri, Kimiya
Gao, David
Zhang, Samuel
Chen, Matthew
Su, Eric
Ji, Pengyu
Syed, Saad
Neely, Chris
Baldi, Mario
Kapre, Nachiket
Arashloo, Mina Tahmasbi
contents The network transport layer is increasingly implemented in the NIC hardware to meet the performance demands of modern workloads, but this has made it difficult to evolve or deploy new transport protocols. Existing approaches either fix protocol logic in the data-path or build protocol-specific assumptions into the architecture that limit the range of protocols that can be supported on a single hardware substrate. We present PITA, a protocol-independent transport architecture that enables full data-path programmability while sustaining line-rate performance. PITA eliminates protocol-specific assumptions by structuring the data-path around a uniform abstraction over events, state, and instructions, and rethinks core components, including scheduling, packet generation, and data reassembly, to operate on this abstraction. We evaluate PITA along key dimensions reflecting the goals of its protocol-agnostic datapath design. Specifically, we show that PITA supports diverse protocol semantics by showing it can implement TCP and \roce on the same data path and preserve their distinct end-to-end behavior. Through targeted microbenchmarks and synthesis on Alveo U250 cards, we show that PITA's redesigned components sustain high performance under demanding conditions, with modest hardware overhead and meeting timing at 250MHz.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_02210
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Protocol-Independent Transport Architecture
Mohammadtaheri, Kimiya
Gao, David
Zhang, Samuel
Chen, Matthew
Su, Eric
Ji, Pengyu
Syed, Saad
Neely, Chris
Baldi, Mario
Kapre, Nachiket
Arashloo, Mina Tahmasbi
Networking and Internet Architecture
Hardware Architecture
The network transport layer is increasingly implemented in the NIC hardware to meet the performance demands of modern workloads, but this has made it difficult to evolve or deploy new transport protocols. Existing approaches either fix protocol logic in the data-path or build protocol-specific assumptions into the architecture that limit the range of protocols that can be supported on a single hardware substrate. We present PITA, a protocol-independent transport architecture that enables full data-path programmability while sustaining line-rate performance. PITA eliminates protocol-specific assumptions by structuring the data-path around a uniform abstraction over events, state, and instructions, and rethinks core components, including scheduling, packet generation, and data reassembly, to operate on this abstraction. We evaluate PITA along key dimensions reflecting the goals of its protocol-agnostic datapath design. Specifically, we show that PITA supports diverse protocol semantics by showing it can implement TCP and \roce on the same data path and preserve their distinct end-to-end behavior. Through targeted microbenchmarks and synthesis on Alveo U250 cards, we show that PITA's redesigned components sustain high performance under demanding conditions, with modest hardware overhead and meeting timing at 250MHz.
title A Protocol-Independent Transport Architecture
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
Hardware Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02210