Background

The SSGSCP protocol is an example of network protocol layering, a system of service hierarchy used in networked computer communication. Network protocol layering allows different components and activities of the communication process to be separated and handled by different layers, each with a specific function and interface. This makes the design, implementation and maintenance of network protocols more feasible and flexible.

The SSGSCP protocol is an application-layer protocol, which means it is the highest layer in the network protocol stack and it provides the specific functionality of the communication between a Sensor Seal Gateway Server and a Sensor Seal Gateway. The application-layer protocol encodes and decodes the messages in a form that is understood by both parties, and uses the services of the lower layers to transmit and receive the messages.

The following lower layers support the SSGSCP protocol:

This layer breaks down the messages into small chunks called packets, and adds information such as packet number, total number of packets, source port and destination port. This allows the recipient to reassemble the packets in the correct order, check for missing or corrupted packets, and identify the application that sent or received the packets.

The SSGSCP protocol runs on top of UDP (User Datagram Protocol), which is a transport-layer protocol that provides fast but unreliable delivery of packets. UDP does not guarantee that packets will arrive in order, without errors, or at all, but it has less overhead than TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which provides reliable delivery but requires more processing and bandwidth. SSGSCP is used instead to ensure that SSGSCP packets arrive without error.

This layer adds the sender’s IP address and the recipient’s IP address to each packet, which are unique identifiers of devices on a network or the internet. The network layer is responsible for routing the packets from the source to the destination, using intermediate devices such as routers and switches. The network layer may also fragment or reassemble packets if they are too large or too small for the underlying network. The SSGSCP protocol uses IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), which is a network-layer protocol that defines a 32-bit address space for devices on the internet.

This layer enables the transfer of packets between nodes on a network, and between one network and another. The link layer adds information such as MAC address, frame type, checksum, etc. to each packet, which are used to identify physical devices on a network segment, determine the format of data on the link, and detect errors in transmission. The link layer may use different protocols depending on the type of network or link, such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.