UIP (micro IP) - Versions

Versions

uIP 0.9 is the version with the least dependence on operating systems, the smallest resource use, and the only version that presents a pure event loop API. It may be used in embedded systems with very small amounts of resources.

It was delivered with a set of examples of higher-level protocols that also run on an event loop system, including HTTP (a simple web server), SMTP (simple mail transmission protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol), telnet (terminal emulation), and others. Despite the examples and its small size, uIP 0.9 can be difficult to apply because it does not use any form of socket API.

uIP is widely used code with well-known weaknesses. The design minimizes and separates 32-bit arithmetic so that it can be adjusted or optimized for 8 and 16-bit CPUs. Also, 16-bit software timers (common on small microcontrollers) can overflow and cause defective operation. This can be fixed with a timer system that does not overflow (e.g. the timers count down or use modulo arithmetic). Another issue is that its single packet buffer can have substantial throughput problems because a PC host usually delays the "ACK" packet, waiting for more packets. In slow, serial port implementations, the ack-throughput can be fixed by modifying uIP to send every packet as two half-packet fragments. uIP systems with fast ethernet or WiFi can modify the hardware driver to send every packet twice. Some PCs do not correctly respond to a fast uIP system on a local ethernet, because the uIP system can start a responding packet before the PC is ready to receive it. The solution is to call the uIP system less frequently in the main loop (Windows PCs are designed for a response time of about 1 millisecond). Typical implementations of uIP have a fixed IP address, which can make them impractical in real networks, although some have implemented DHCP. Version 0.9 in its original form does not support IP version 6, only the older, more standard IPv4. Also, uIP 0.9's original web site is no longer (2013) live, although it may be available from historical imaging sites.

Later versions of uIP, including the reference version of uIPv6, are integrated with Contiki, an operating system that uses coroutines for cooperative multitasking. Contiki provides the multitasking needed by a simplified socket API, simplifying the use of uIP. These versions may be less popular than 0.9 however. Many examples of embedded code do not use them.