The Delay-Tolerant Networking Engineering Network – Constructing a Cross-Agency Supported Internetworking

Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocols implement packetized, multi-path communications amongst space assets. The resulting internetworking model enables data sharing across multiple missions from multiple space agencies. Individual DTN protocols are being standardized in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). NASA is additionally prototyping the routing, security, and management utilities necessary to deploy an operational network based on these CCSDS standards. These utilities require a testbed that simulates both the physical characteristics of a space network and the security and configuration challenges incumbent in coordinating devices across space agencies. The DTN Engineering Network (DEN) is such a testbed comprised of physical and virtual machines and flight-like hardware located at different NASA-centers and supporting universities. The DEN is configured with reference implementations of advanced communication protocols, including the Bundle Protocol and Licklider Transmission Protocol. It may be configured to simulate necessary signal propagation delays and link disruptions. As a distributed, heterogeneous set of machines independently managed by a variety of NASA centers, the DEN also represents a ground-based analog of the spac