Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a boundary scan test of a wired or wireless network having a plurality of network nodes are presented. The system includes a test station communicatively coupled with the network. The test station creates a MAC layer scan test route sequence that includes each link in the network and is independent of the routing mechanism and protocol used for the network. The test station also creates a test agent that is configured to traverse each link in the scan test route sequence. The test agent is then deployed on the network and information about a link is reported back to the test station after the test agent examines the link. The scan test route sequence can be created by sending out a series of broadcast messages from one or more nodes in the network, sequentially applying a network tour to cover the entire network, or performing a depth first search on the entire network.

Abstract: A device for providing machine to machine communication over a communication network is presented. The device may be implemented as an ASIC, sea of gates, or mask programmed CPU. The device resides directly in the communication path between the processor and the physical layer of the host machine. Circuitry and embedded software perform the functions of data traffic management (communications and routing), application hosting, network architecture monitoring and diagnostics, LAN operations, security, machine diagnostics and location mapping. The device is adaptable to communicate over wired and wireless networks employing any of the various available transport media including phone, bluetooth, Ethernet, and 802.11 a/b, just to name a few.