RTE_RDTSC is a function in the DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) library that reads the value of the processor’s Time Stamp Counter (TSC). The TSC is a register in modern processors that increments at a constant rate, providing a high-resolution timer that can be used for various performance measurements.
The rte_rdtsc function returns the current value of the TSC. It is typically used to measure the time taken by various operations in network data processing applications, such as packet forwarding and filtering. By measuring the time taken by different operations, developers can optimize their code to improve overall application performance.
DPDK provides several other functions related to timing and profiling, including rte_get_tsc_cycles(), which returns the number of TSC cycles since boot time, and rte_delay_us(), which causes a delay for a specified number of microseconds using busy-waiting.