iOS Packet filtering

Hello!

I'm here mainly to have a question answered and see what discussion may come from it. I bit of a background - I'm looking to make an iOS application that can monitor incoming/outgoing network traffic by packet inspection. My question is simply: is this possible? I've read on various forums about people attemping something similar with no success, however, I figured I'd give Apple forums a shot before I called this a total dud. I should also mention that this app must run on it's own; that is, without another device assisting. For example, I know there are a few nifty apps one could download and install on his or her mac to act as a proxy for any particular device and just track traffic through the proxy. I do not want to take this approach. My question is about whether an app can do this on it's own.

I am aware that the iPad has the VPN capabilites built in natively and that the iPhone does not. Are there any libraries or an API I should take a look at to get a start on this?

I appreciate any help!

Thanks!