tunnelingbased

Tunneling-based describes methods, devices, or systems that rely on a tunneling phenomenon to move particles, signals, or data through a barrier or across a medium.

In physics and electronics, quantum tunneling allows particles to pass through energy barriers that would be insurmountable classically. This effect is exploited in devices such as tunnel diodes, which use a thin potential barrier to achieve negative differential resistance, and in tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs), which aim to reduce power consumption. Scanning tunneling microscopes use a tunneling current between a sharp tip and a surface to image surfaces at the atomic scale.

In communications and computer networks, tunneling refers to encapsulating network traffic within another protocol to traverse intermediate networks or restricted segments. Tunneling-based networking enables VPNs, SSH tunnels, or IPsec/GRE tunnels to provide confidentiality, integrity, and NAT traversal.

In research and security contexts, tunneling-based concepts appear in covert channels and exfiltration techniques that leverage tunneling protocols to escape monitoring. This requires careful security design to prevent abuse while preserving legitimate tunneling functionality.

Related topics include quantum tunneling, tunnel diodes, tunnel field-effect transistors, VPNs, SSH tunneling, and IPsec.