The Networking Cake
Petar Popovski · 2020
Layered system design is a prime example of a good architectural design that can lead to proliferation and support of various connectivity types and services. The way different services can use the resources of the layered architecture is through network slicing, which cuts through the layers to use the resources in a way that is customized for each specific service. The concept of layers stacked on top of each other, black boxes with well-defined interfaces and peers that communicate within each layer, is very powerful and essential in building communication protocols for large systems. This chapter illustrates how the system components, as well as layering, become related to the communication models and protocols. It explores how the cross-layer optimization, or enhanced exchange and use of information across different layers, can bring benefits in terms of communication performance.