CGFE: Efficient Range Encoding for TCAMs
Additional information
Authors
Graf J. P. R.,
Demianiuk V.,
Chuprikov P.,
Feiran Y.,
Nikolenko S. I.,
Eugster P. T.
Type
Article in conference proceedings
Year
2025
Language
English
Abstract
High-performance packet classification is essential for a wide range of fundamental network functions, including access control, firewalls, and advanced programmable network applications. Ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) is heavily used for packet classification due to its impressive performance but it is size-limited, expensive, and power-intensive. Since TCAM requires special encoding for ranges in packet classifiers, minimizing the encoding size is essential. Classical methods such as DIRPE and SRGE work well for different types of ranges and have different limitations. We present the chunked Gray fence encoding (CGFE), a novel encoding that combines the advantages of DIRPE's fence encoding and Gray code reflectivity in SRGE, achieving the best of both worlds. CGFE reduces the number of TCAM entries needed for range-based packet classifiers, improving TCAM efficiency and lowering energy consumption. We prove that CGFE uses the same or smaller number of TCAM entries than both DIRPE and SRGE for every possible range, reducing the number of ternary strings up to 2× in theory and, as we show in a comprehensive practical evaluation, by 40.8% and 9.3% on average, respectively, for rules with two 16-bit range fields.
Keywords
Reflectivity, Energy consumption, Firewalls (computing), Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM), Range Encoding, Reflective Binary Codes
Conference proceedings
IEEE INFOCOM 2025
Meeting name
IEEE INFOCOM 2025 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications
Meeting place
London, United Kingdom
Meeting date
2025
ISSN
2641-9874
ISBN
979-8-3315-4305-1
Diffusion
License
License undefined
Visibility
Private
