Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking
charter-ietf-dtn-01-01

The Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) Working Group specifies
mechanisms for data communications in the presence of long delays and/or
intermittent connectivity. The Working Group has published the Bundle Protocol
v7 (BPv7), corresponding Bundle Protocol Security protocol (BPSec) and an
interoperable Security Context, and the TCP Convergence Layer specifications
as standards track RFCs. Multiple independent implementations
exist for these technologies in both space and terrestrial
environments, and the technology is now used in production by government and
commercial organizations world-wide.

This Working Group now focuses on the further work relevant to the area of
Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking, dividing work items into 3
broad categories:

• An architecture for Naming, Addressing and Forwarding

  The Bundle Protocol v7 defines an encoding of Names for use in DTN, but the
  detailed semantics have not been specified. The Working Group will define
  a common architecture for the delay/disruption tolerant assignment of
  names, and the late-binding of such names during bundle forwarding to
  end-points within a DTN. This architecture will define a standard model for the
  forwarding process of a Bundle Process Agent, providing an informational reference
  point for further specifications.

• The definition of architecture and protocols in the areas of Operations,
  Administration and Management (OAM), and Key Management

  Current DTN deployments rely on the use of pre-placed keys and configuration or bespoke tooling, and there is
  a growing demand for standards to improve the automation and reliability of DTN management.
  Existing IETF protocols for OAM and Key Management generally rely on a
  bi-directional end-to-end path between devices, and in Delay/Disruption
  Tolerant Networks (DTNs) such paths rarely exist. To enable OAM and Key Management
  in such cases, there may be a need to standardize an architecture supporting alternative methods and their
  supporting protocols and data models. The Working Group will liaise
  with relevant experts in the OPS Area to discover if there are existing
  standards that meet, or may be extended to meet, the DTN use-cases before standardizing
  new protocols. There is also believed to be cross-over between the use-cases for OAM and Key Management
  in DTNs and the use-cases in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs); to this end the Working Group will coordinate with the MANET
  Working Group to explore potential synergies and avoid duplication of effort.

• Extensions to and best practices for existing protocols

  Extensions to the Bundle Protocol to enable reliability signalling,
  tunnelling and Quality of Service indication are needed for the operational
  deployment of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networks, and these capabilities
  will be standardized by the Working Group.

  Additional extensions to the Bundle Protocol, additional Security Context
  definitions for BPSec, and new Convergence Layer adaptors will be
  considered on a case-by-case basis by the working group.

  The Working Group will also document best practices learned from existing deployment.

The Working Group charter intentionally excludes topics related to Routing in
DTNs, as the topic is considered too open, and candidate protocols suitable for
standardization do not yet exist. This does not preclude discussion of
potential approaches to the problem of Routing in DTNs within the Working
Group, but no Working Group document will be adopted under this charter.

It is understood that although the DTN Working Group exists in the Transport Area,
work items of the group span multiple topics related to other areas.
The Working Group will coordinate with other IETF Working Groups, especially in the
Security, Routing, Operation and Management Areas, to ensure the quality of
peer review, the avoidance of duplication of effort, and alignment with specifications
produced in other Working Groups.

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The following are initial milestones:

• Naming and Addressing Architecture document

• Neighbor/Peer Discovery protocol specification

• Asynchronous Management Architecture and protocols document

• Key Management protocol specification

• Bundle progress signalling extension to Bundle Protocol specification

• Bundle-in-Bundle Encapsulation extension to Bundle Protocol specification
• Quality of Service/Flow indication extension to Bundle Protocol specification