I am in the process of starting to implement some proprietary communication protocol stack in software but not sure where to start. It is the kind of work I have not done before and I am looking for help in terms of resources for best/recommended approaches.

I will be using c/c++ and I am free to use use libraries (BSD/BOOST/Apache) but no GPL. I have used C++ extensively so using the features of C++ is not a problem.

The protocol stack has three layers and it is already fully specified and formally verified. So all I need to do is implemented and test it fully in the specified languages. Should also mention that protocol is very simple but can run on different devices over a reliable physical transport layer

Any help with references/recommendations will be appreciated. I am willing to use a different language if only to help me understand how to implement them but I will have to eventually resort to the language of choice.