1.2.4.1.1 Abstraction Model
This module provides software abstraction of the ARP module existent in any TCP/IP Stack implementation. It removes the overhead of address resolution from all other modules in the stack.
How the Library Works
The ARP module provides address resolution capabilities for the TCP/IP stack.
The ARP module is an independent module that maintains its state across calls and updates its state machine. A data storage (cache) is maintained and updated internally for each interface existent in the system. The number of entries in each cache is configurable at initialization time.
The ARP state machine can remove entries from the cache and can provide signals when a specific entry has been resolved or has timed out. The purging of the cache is done internally base on a time-out parameter that is dynamically configurable.
The module provides a notification mechanism which simplifies the design of the ARP clients. The most important client of the ARP module is the IPv4_layer.