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Research carried out using NetBSD

2026-09-06 | original
read original get Raspberry Pi 4 Model B → more articles
Why This Matters

This NetBSD page catalogs research projects built on the OS, from NASA Lewis's TCP-over-satellite experiments to the KAME project's IPv6/IPsec stack, whose code was merged into NetBSD-current in 1999. It illustrates how permissively licensed BSD systems became the default testbed for protocol work that later shaped the mainstream internet.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B — NetBSD is famous for running on just about everything, and the Raspberry Pi 4 is one of the easiest, cheapest boards to actually try it on. It's a great little machine for hands-on networking and TCP experiments like the ones described here, and you can leave it humming away as a dedicated research node.

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Research carried out using NetBSD

Several groups, organizations, and individuals have conducted research or performed demonstrations utilizing NetBSD as a vehicle. If you have such material that might be appropriate for this section, and would like to make it available here, please let us know!

Network orientated

Other

Network orientated

TCP in satellite networks (NASA Lewis)

NASA Lewis Research Center - Satellite Networks and Architectures Branch use NetBSD almost exclusively in their investigation of TCP for use in satellite networks. They are currently examining several proposed modifications to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) protocol. Extensions are being tested in an attempt to improve satellite communication. However, the extensions are also being tested in terrestrial environments. Among the extensions being tested are restransmission mechanisms based on selective acknowledgements (e.g., FACK TCP) and TCP with larger initial windows. They are currently testing the mechanisms' performance benefits and their fairness to other traffic. They are also working with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)'s TCP Over Satellite and TCP Implementations Working Groups.

IPv6/IPsec (KAME)

KAME project . A research group for implementing IPv6, IPsec and other recent TCP/IP related technologies into BSD UNIX kernels, under BSD license. KAME stack got merged into NetBSD-current tree in June 1999.

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Explore topics: netbsd tcp ipv6 kame project nasa lewis
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