KCP: A Fast and Reliable ARQ Protocol for Network Communication
A brief introduction to the project:
Welcome to a deep dive into the KCP - a fast and reliable ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) protocol residing on top of the GitHub repository. This open-source project put efforts into enhancing the reliability and speed of network communication, particularly by improving the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) traffic, thus breaking the boundaries of network programming.
The significance of the KCP protocol reflects in its impressive contribution to bettering Internet experiences. Given the vast range and growing demand for online services, the importance of reliable and swift communication protocols cannot be overstated.
Project Overview:
The KCP project is primarily centered around surmounting the hurdles that come with the UDP traffic, including lack of orderliness and reliability. The mission of this project is to provide an ARQ protocol that converges fast, reliable, and ordered packet delivery. It holds potential benefits for all network users and especially for developers engaged in network programming and the gaming industry.
Project Features:
KCP enriches the features of UDP by offering a reliable connection, fast transmission time, flow control, and congestion control. KCP’s noteworthy advantage is its ability to reduce latency and improve transmission speed, pursuing the next level of user experience. In terms of use cases, as an example, multiplayer online games can use KCP to maintain the real-time interaction, where fast data transmission is a necessity.
Technology Stack:
This technology stacks underlying KCP is largely entrenched in C programming. C was chosen due to its efficiency and control, making it ideal for network applications. The core part of KCP has no dependencies, and essentials like memory management, timing, and network I/O can be customized by the end user. Therefore, it can easily be introduced to existing systems without significantly altering the infrastructure.
Project Structure and Architecture:
The KCP project takes a minimalistic approach to its structure and design, focusing on achieving high reliability and speed without unnecessary complexity. The core component is the ikcp.c module, which hosts the key features such as the ARQ procedure, fragmentation, and reassembling of packets. This module interacts closely with the ikcp.h that has the interface definitions.
