Subject: [secdir] [new-work] WG Review: Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (dtn)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2021 07:55:02 -0800

The Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (dtn) WG in the Transport Area of
the IETF is undergoing rechartering. The IESG has not made any determination
yet. The following draft charter was submitted, and is provided for
informational purposes only. Please send your comments to the IESG mailing
list ([email-masked]) by 2021-11-21.

Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (dtn)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Current status: Active WG

Chairs:
  Edward Birrane <[email-masked]>
  Rick Taylor <[email-masked]>

Secretaries:
  Adam Wiethuechter <[email-masked]>

Assigned Area Director:
  Zaheduzzaman Sarker <[email-masked]>

Transport Area Directors:
  Martin Duke <[email-masked]>
  Zaheduzzaman Sarker <[email-masked]>

Mailing list:
  Address: [email-masked]
  To subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dtn
  Archive: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/dtn/

Group page: https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/dtn/

Charter: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/charter-ietf-dtn/

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 Working Group charter intentionally excludes topics related to Routing
    in DTNs. This does not preclude discussion of the subject, in coordination
    with the Routing Area, but no Working Group documents will be adopted
    under this charter.

 * 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 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.

=============================================
Proposed milestones:

 * Naming and Addressing Architecture document
 * Neighbor/Peer Discovery protocol specification

 * Delay-Tolerant Management Architecture and Protocols
 * 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

Milestones:

TBD

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