Unmanaged Internet Protocol: Taming the Edge Network Management Crisis

TL;DR

This paper proposes Unmanaged Internet Protocol (UIP), a scalable, self-managing routing protocol designed for dynamic edge networks with millions or billions of nodes, addressing limitations of traditional IP in such environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel architecture using cryptographic node identities and a DHT-inspired routing algorithm to enable scalable, autonomous edge network management.

Findings

UIP can operate in highly dynamic, disconnected edge networks

The architecture reduces administrative overhead for large-scale networks

Simulation results show improved scalability over existing protocols

Abstract

Though appropriate for core Internet infrastructure, the Internet Protocol is unsuited to routing within and between emerging ad-hoc edge networks due to its dependence on hierarchical, administratively assigned addresses. Existing ad-hoc routing protocols address the management problem but do not scale to Internet-wide networks. The promise of ubiquitous network computing cannot be fulfilled until we develop an Unmanaged Internet Protocol (UIP), a scalable routing protocol that manages itself automatically. UIP must route within and between constantly changing edge networks potentially containing millions or billions of nodes, and must still function within edge networks disconnected from the main Internet, all without imposing the administrative burden of hierarchical address assignment. Such a protocol appears challenging but feasible. We propose an architecture based on self-certifying, cryptographic node identities and a routing algorithm adapted from distributed hash tables.