Abbreviated as DTN, Disruption Tolerant Networking
is a networking architecture that is designed to provide communications in the
most unstable and stressed environments, where the network would normally be subject to frequent and long lasting disruptions and high bit error rates that
could severely degrade normal communications.
DTN works using different kind of approach than TCP/IP for packet delivery that is more resilient to disruption than TCP/IP. DTN is based on a new experimental protocol called the Bundle Protocol (RFC 5050). BP sits at the application layer
of some number of constituent internets, forming a store-and-forward overlay
network. The Bundle Protocol (BP) operates as an overlay protocol that links
together multiple subnets (such as Ethernet-based LANs) into a single network.
The basic idea behind DTN network is that endpoints aren't always continuously
connected. In order to facilitate data transfer, DTN uses a store-and-forward
approach across routers that is more disruption-tolerant than TCP/IP. However,
the DTN approach doesn't necessarily mean that all DTN routers on a network
would require large storage capacity in order to maintain end-to-end data
integrity.
Disruption Tolerant Networks are frequently used in disaster relief missions,
peace-keeping missions, and in vehicular networks. Most recently NASA has tested
DTN technology for spacecraft communications.
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