Supporting diversity and evolvability in communication protocols

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Internet communication has become essential in various contexts, including web browsing, gaming, cloud access, and data center networking. Each scenario presents unique and evolving requirements for communication protocols. However, current systems are designed in a static manner, limiting adaptability and hindering the benefits of protocol advancements. A promising solution is the dynamic composition of protocol stacks from components, tailored to specific usage scenarios. While research supports this approach, existing solutions often rely on rigid protocol implementations, restricting flexibility and adaptability to changes. This thesis introduces an evolvable protocol platform (EPP) that addresses these challenges. EPP describes components from existing protocol frameworks in terms of functionality, interface properties, and dependencies. Based on these descriptions and specific communication requirements, it dynamically composes protocol stacks, ensuring compatibility and alignment with the desired properties and services. If multiple stacks can be created, they are ranked according to context-dependent quality and performance criteria, identifying the most suitable option for the given scenario. The main contributions of EPP include a component metamodel for various protocol frameworks, enabling extensible representation of structural and functional properties; a composition algorithm that constructs protocol stacks ba