P4-Programmable Raspberry Pi Nodes for Multi-Interface Edge Networking in Networked Airborne Computing

J. Piechocka, J. Grzelski, M. Żal (Poznan Univ. of Techn., Poland)

Networked Airborne Computing (NAC) systems rely on cooperation between multiple aerial platforms equipped with communication and computing capabilities. Such environments require flexible networking mechanisms that enable dynamic packet processing, adaptive routing and integration of heterogeneous communication interfaces. Programmable data plane technologies, such as the P4 language, provide a promising approach for implementing these capabilities in distributed airborne systems. This paper investigates the feasibility of building low-cost programmable communication nodes for NAC environments using Raspberry Pi platforms. The proposed architecture integrates multiple communication interfaces, including Ethernet, WiFi and SPI, allowing the node to operate both as a networking element and as an edge gateway for external subsystems. The study analyzes the deployment of P4 programs on resource-constrained ARM platforms and presents a comparative discussion of three execution targets: BMv2, the eBPF backend and the P4PI framework. In addition, possible control plane architectures for managing programmable data planes in NAC environments are discussed. The results demonstrate that Raspberry Pi-based platforms can serve as flexible and inexpensive programmable communication nodes suitable for experimental NAC testbeds and distributed airborne systems.