main ideas are:
* Separates the Contiki low-layer network stack into four layers:
network (e.g. sicslowpan / rime), Medium Access Control MAC
(e.g. CSMA), Radio Duty Cycling RDC (e.g. ContikiMAC, X-MAC), and
radio (e.g. cc2420).
* Introduces a new way to configure the network stack. Four #defines
that specify what mechanism/protocol/driver to use at the four
layers: NETSTACK_CONF_NETWORK, NETSTACK_CONF_MAC, NETSTACK_CONF_RDC,
NETSTACK_CONF_RADIO.
* Adds a callback mechanism to inform the MAC and network layers about
the fate of a transmitted packet: if the packet was not possible to
transmit, the cause of the failure is reported, and if the packets
was successfully transmitted, the number of tries before it was
finally transmitted is reported.
* NULL-protocols at both the MAC and RDC layers: nullmac and nullrdc,
which can be used when MAC and RDC functionality is not needed.
* Extends the radio API with three new functions that enable more
efficient radio duty cycling protocols: channel check, pending
packet, and receiving packet.
* New initialization mechanism, which takes advantage of the NETSTACK
#defines.
channel_check_interval(). This function returns the interval by which
the duty cycling mechanism checks the radio channel for activity. It
is used by higher layer mechanisms to determine suitable timeouts for
retransmissions.
sicslowpan tags TCP packets with the PACKETBUF_ATTR_PACKET_TYPE_STREAM
flag, which makes the underlying power-saving MAC layer keep the radio
on for some time after transmitting the packet. This allows reply
packets to be processed directly, significantly increasing TCP latency
and throughput.
sleep for OFF_TIME if the queue is empty.
restrict double packet lifetime timeouts to unicast packets.
stop ctimer in remove_queued_packet in case the function is not called
via the ctimer callback. it could overwrite a valid packet otherwise.
since libc rand() returns a signed int, there were frequently problems with
timer values wrapping. By reverting to random_rand(), we can provide a
random generator that returns an unsigned and the timer problems are solved.
