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Communicating Even When the Network Is Down

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the with-science dept.

coondoggie writes to mention a NetworkWorld article covering efforts to maintain network connectivity even when the network has holes. Building off of the needs of the military, the end goal is to create a service which will route around network trouble spots and maintain connectivity for users. From the article: "Researchers at BBN Technologies, of Cambridge, Mass., have begun the second phase of a DTN project, funded by $8.7 million from the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Earlier this year, the researchers simulated a 20-node DTN. With each link available just 20% of the time, the network was able to deliver 100% of the packets transmitted." The article is on five small pages, with no option to see a linkable, printable version.

2 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a minute... by J05H · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wasn't that the point of the original ARPANET? To route around broken parts of the network? BBN was involved in that, too. What, have they been double-billing the DoD this whole time?

    --
    gigantino.tv - Heavy but weighs nothing.
    1. Re:Wait a minute... by m94mni · · Score: 5, Informative

      "But all that breaks down when the network ruptures because of repeated disconnections and long delays. BBN has developed a network protocol and code that moves information from node to node as connections become available, and can hold information in persistent storage until a connection is available. " They are solving the case when at each point in time, there is *no* end-to-end path. ARPANET assumes there is at least one path, though the path can vary over time.