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Pigeon Protocol Finds a Practical Purpose

Posted by timothy on from the fly-away-little-one dept.

Selanit writes "Since David Waitzman wrote his tongue-in-cheek Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, there have been occasional attempts to actually transmit information via pigeon. One group back in 2001 successfully sent a PING command. But now there's a practical use for pigeon-based communications: photographers working for the white-water rafting company Rocky Mountain Adventures send memory sticks full of digital photos via homing pigeon so the photos will be ready when the rafters finish up. The company has details on how the pigeons are trained and equipped. It may not be a full implementation of the Pigeon Protocol, but it works in narrow canyons far off the beaten path — and just as David Waitzman presciently predicted, they occasionally suffer packet loss due to hawks and ospreys."

20 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Packet loss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think the best part of the story is the packet loss explanation!! If only the pigeons could upgrade their internal CDMA protocol!

  2. Cache La Poudre by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Informative

    I rafted the Poudre this summer. It was a great time. The company we went with did a great job, not sure why the need to race photos back. Our photographer rode back with us, while we turned in our gear, changed clothes, etc. he set up in the office, and started showing the pictures to folks on an iMac. While we watched he burned a dvd. We had a big group so he set a price and sold us a dvd that we could all copy. It was pretty sweet. Mountain Whitewater Descents was the company we used and I'd recommend them to anyone headed that way.
     
    Apparently a while back some French trappers got snowed in and hid their gun powder by the river - that's how it got its name.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  3. Not really TCPIPoP by gblues · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is less "TCP/IP over Pidgeon" and more "Sneakernet Over Pidgeon." Although if all the memory cards were the same size you could get away with calling it ATM over Pidgeon, I guess.

    1. Re:Not really TCPIPoP by ari_j · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm not finding any claim that it is IP over Avian Carrier as prescribed by RFC 1149. It is, perhaps, misleading to call it a "pigeon protocol," but nobody claimed it was IP. It is definitely more of a protocol than a sneakernet, though, unless the pigeons are walking the whole way.

    2. Re:Not really TCPIPoP by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unless the pigeon comes back it's certainly not TCP, more like Pigeon UDP.

      --
      Monstar L
    3. Re:Not really TCPIPoP by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      You simply need to breed packets with higher TTL.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Not really TCPIPoP by ari_j · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Wow. Did you even read the entire first sentence or did you stop at the first link?

      Since David Waitzman wrote his tongue-in-cheek Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, there have been occasional attempts to actually transmit information via pigeon.

      Right there, at the end of that first sentence, it explains that there have been attempts to transmit information via pigeon. Not by IP over Avian Carriers. Nowhere in the summary does it actually claim that this is an implementation of RFC 1149. Try again, smartypants.

  4. Another misleading headline...*sigh* by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Informative
    This isn't an implementation of RFC1149. *sigh* It even says so in the summary, not even the freaking article. They're just using carrier pigeons as couriers, like they've been used for centuries.

    "Since David Waitzman wrote his tongue-in-cheek Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, there have been occasional attempts to actually transmit information via pigeon.
    Yeah, attempts like the victory at Marathon in 490BC...

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Another misleading headline...*sigh* by Jim+Efaw · · Score: 3, Informative

      More like UUCP mail over pigeon, if we're comparing it to a protocol. On the other hand, we could just call it files by carrier pigeon... uh... why are we having this conversation again? It didn't say the pigeon protocol you're all thinking of (RFC 1149) was used — just that a pigeon protocol was used. I'll just be quiet now.

  5. Photos Obtained Over Pidgens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    a.k.a. "POOP".

    1. Re:Photos Obtained Over Pidgens by jo42 · · Score: 3, Funny

      As is PHP Object Oriented Programming.

      Yeah, I know, Offtopic... :-p

  6. packet loss due to hawks and ospreys by mindbrane · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ospreys are deeply beautiful birds of prey and watching them is magic, but I've never seen an osprey take anything but fish.

    --
    ideopath @ play
    1. Re:packet loss due to hawks and ospreys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ospreys have been known to devour Marines.

  7. Someone can't spell by BenoitRen · · Score: 2, Informative

    One of the story tags is "wortthless".

  8. Everything old is new again... by rwyoder · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...and a two-year-old article in the Denver Post is "news" to SlashDot.

  9. Pretty cool by The_Duck271 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't know why everyone needs to find something to whine about in this article; it's a pretty cool story. An amusing blend of modern and ancient technology to solve an interesting problem.

  10. Still useful. by Sawopox · · Score: 2, Informative

    This may be useful in a post apocalyptic world. Chances are, Internet style connectivity will be wiped out. Decentralized regional networks may still exist. Transporting high-density data using antique methods such as the pigeons can allow for FidoNet (remember that?) other BBS-style data exchange. Anything that can get the information moving again is a good thing.

    --
    [http://it-tastes-so-good.blogspot.com] Are you hungry?
  11. I would hate to show you by dominux · · Score: 3, Informative

    But I will anyway
    vegard@gyversalen:~$ ping -i 900 10.0.3.1
    PING 10.0.3.1 (10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=6165731.1 ms
    64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 ms
    64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms
    64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms
    from http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/pinglogg.txt

  12. the falcon business by SethJohnson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One time I attended a class for people wanting to start a business. The teacher started the class asking us each to describe the business we had in mind of starting. One woman stood up and said she wanted to start a "peregrine falcon business."

    Without any further description, the teacher said, "You can't sell those birds. They're protected." She replied that she wasn't going to sell falcons. She was going to rent them.

    Her plan was to get contracted by big box stores. When they get normal birds stuck flying around inside the building, they'll call the falcon lady and she'll bring her peregrines in and set them loose. It's illegal to poison birds. Shooting them indoors is also a dicey proposition considering that the species could be protected as a migratory bird. But there's no law against releasing a falcon to devour a wild bird.

    Don't know if her business 'took off,' but I admired her clever idea.

    Seth

    --
    $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
  13. Re:Not the first time by TBoon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    you would have to carry some device that could copy the pictures.

    You mean, like, say, a netbook?