Data Communication over Challenged Networks: Application of Error Control Schemes in the Delay Tolerant Network Architectures

Nowadays, the realization and the deployment of network infrastructures able to guarantee connectivity to geographical areas characterized by hazardous access conditions, such as remote sensor networks, disaster areas and interplanetary networks, are assuming great importance. Under this view, the large access latencies along with the high percentage of lost packets makes the applicability of TCP/IP protocol suite almost unfeasible. A promising solution counteracting TCP/IP shortcomings is represented by the delay tolerant network (DTN) architecture, which exploits the principle of the mail delivery service to guarantee the success of the information transfer. This paper applies the DTN concepts to data communications achieved in deep space environments and investigates the adoption of error control schemes implemented at the higher layers, in order to make the transmission more reliable without the need of a feedback link for the acknowledgment transportation