A Border Gateway Protocol Extension for Distributing Endpoint Identifier Reachability Information in Delay-tolerant Networks

TL;DR

This paper proposes extending BGP to distribute reachability information for DTN endpoints, simplifying configuration and access in delay-tolerant networks, especially for edge nodes and interplanetary communication.

Contribution

It introduces a BGP extension for advertising DTN endpoint reachability, facilitating easier configuration and integration of DTN systems.

Findings

Feasibility confirmed through implementation

Enables simplified DTN endpoint reachability advertisement

Applicable to interplanetary Internet access

Abstract

The Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) community has created solid results during the last three decades. One aspect that still requires focus, however, is the simplification of configuring systems participating in DTN communication. In this workshop paper, an approach is proposed for configuring DTN endpoint reachability. The core idea is to extend the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), enabling it to advertise the reachability of DTN endpoints specified by Endpoint Identifiers (EIDs) via specific next-hop Convergence Layer Adapters (CLAs). The approach is mainly intended for usage in edge nodes accessible from an IP network, which communicate via a DTN gateway to a larger DTN infrastructure. It may be applied to simplify access to the Solar System Internet from hosts connected to the Internet. The feasibility of the approach has been confirmed using an implementation intended for validation purposes.